Roots of Overcrowded Prisons Imprisonment Rates and Crime Trends

Considering the worldwide statistics, it might be supposed that the significant increases in overcrowded prisons and imprisonment rates are a primary consequence of skyrocketing criminal activity far and wide. In fact, researches have shown that the imprisonment and crime rates develop independently from each other. Individuals who mull over the real reasons for overcrowded prison existence have to begin with understanding the core elements, branches, and mechanisms of the particular jurisdiction processes. There is no need to refer to criminal trends that are liable for the high crime rate in a particular country. It is necessary to evaluate the entire criminal justice system with visible gaps that have to be patched via developing special policies and effective programs to come up with solutions to eliminate overcrowding in prisons. It stands to reason that the demographic growth in a particular country predisposes the increasing number of residents in prisons.

Delays in the Criminal Justice Process

Delays in the criminal justice process negatively impact the excessive number of prisoners with the pre-trial process. The pre-trial detention process can last for several months and even years in some countries. Awaiting trials, especially when it comes to capital cases, expand the size of the population in prisoners, entailing their overcrowding. There are many reasons why these situations happen, and they have a reasonable basis for explanations, but all of them influence the development of excessive imprisonment.

Inadequate Prison Infrastructure and Capacity

Due to the excessive prisoner growth, it is getting next to impossible to provide inmates with passable accommodations and decent living conditions. Building additional supportive facilities and annex accommodations for convicts are considered to be less effective strategies for addressing excessive imprisonment. As long as the drawbacks in criminal justice policies and systems are not appealed to rationalize prisoner overflow, social activists and authorities cannot solve the overcrowding issue. While beneficial crime prevention methods are not penetrated in the system, the lack of prison infrastructure should not be considered as the primary cause of prison overcrowding.

Still, it should be treated as a malfunction in the criminal system. As a rule, the lack of space for inmates is not the primary reason for prison overcrowding. The excessive imprisonment issue happens because of the inefficient management structure of available space distribution or particular policies providing additional accommodation spaces.