NCJ Number
119299
Date Published
1989
Length
11 pages
Annotation
The problems facing prisons include lack of prison space for the exploding number of incarcerated women and youths, lack of programs and services to meet the special needs of an aging inmate population, and overcrowded prison conditions.
Abstract
These problems are due to the recent evolution of thought on punishment from the ideal of rehabilitation to the reality of incapacitation. Standards of living space for inmates are rarely met in prison facilities. Many are operating at full capacity, and some have been operating well beyond capacity. Projections for the future suggest that there is no relief in sight. Some possible solutions to this problem include privatization, where States contract private firms to provide prison programs and services, electronic monitoring of certain offenders which confines them to their homes, and shock probation or "boot camp" for first-time offenders. Two charts and references.