A State of Emergency in Alabama: Prison Overcrowding

SAGE Open

Larry Edward Spencer¹ 

关键词: prison overcrowding;    restorative justice;    correctional management;    sentencing reform;   

DOI  :  10.1177/2158244012460695

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Sage Journals

【 摘 要 】

This study examines the Alabama Department of Corrections August 2009 Monthly Statistical Report and Fiscal Year 2008 Annual Report, recent articles to explain the serious public safety issue of prison overcrowding within the state of Alabama, lack of funding and correctional staff, and increasing violence among inmates. It is imperative that the stakeholders take a restorative justice approach to offenders who commit nonviolent crimes or otherwise be prepared to release substantial numbers of violent inmates due to federal court intervention, expanding parole, and other types of early release programs. Violent offenders will pose a greater threat to the community. Correctional workers continue to be exposed daily to the risk of injury or death caused by severe prison overcrowding. The state could experience additional financial hardship to rebuild a destroyed correctional facility in an event of a riot. The excessive use of incarceration for nonviolent offenders is one of the most important issues facing the state of Alabama this decade.

【 授权许可】

CC BY