NCJ Number
84402
Date Published
1982
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Several studies of prison overcrowding and the costs of incarceration are cited to support the arguments that building more jail and prison space may not solve the overcrowding problem and that alternative methods of controlling the levels of incarceration are needed.
Abstract
A 1980 study by the National Institute of Justice revealed that capacity was the only statistically significant indicator of current or future prison population levels. In addition, capacity had a consistent relationship to the incarceration level. The NIJ researchers concluded that the decision to incarcerate or release an offender results from a series of discretionary actions by individual criminal justice officials in the absence of a clear overall correctional policy. The overall effect of these individual decisions is for the incarceration rate to increase until a facility is crowded and then to remain at the overcrowded level. Overcrowding seems to result from the uncertain definition of a facility's capacity. Constructing new space is extremely expensive and produces new overcrowding problems. Among programs to deal with the problem of overcrowding are Minnesota's use of sentencing guidelines which are tied to a predetermined prison capacity set by the legislature. LEAA's Jail Overcrowding Project has helped some jurisdictions deal with crowding problems through planning and analysis followed by adoption of alternatives to arrest and incarceration. The American Prisons and Jails study recommends that a community should determine the capacity of its correctional institutions and should adopt procedures for accelerated release when a facility nears capacity. Diversion programs and careful management of other alternative programs are also recommended.