Abuse in Prisons

Abstract

The abuse in prisons is widely studied by human rights advocates, correctional officers and inmates who believe that both physical and sexual violence of prisoners in the US prisons is very common. The major forms of abuse are overcrowdedness of US prisons, enforced solitude, sexual and physical abuse.

Table of Contents

Introduction4

Over crowdedness4

Solitary confinement5

Sexual Abuse of female prisoners7

Rape of men in prison7

Oblivion to abuse in prisons8

Conclusion9

References10

Abuse in Prisons

Introduction

The abuse in prisons is widely studied by human rights advocates, correctional officers and inmates who believe that both physical and sexual violence of prisoners in the US prisons is very common. This abuse, which came to a major limelight through some of the case laws related to Iraq, is also a routine in many of the US prisons in Afghanistan (The Economist, 2012). The situation in the prisons in US is no different. The various forms of abuse in prisons are discussed hereunder.

Over crowdedness

Most of the prisons in US are overcrowded. This is particularly true for Pennsylvania, Arizona and Arizona. This overcrowdedness in prisons has been the worse during President Bush. The American prisons contain about a fourth of the total prisoners in the world. This over crowdedness caused the inmates at the San Quentin prison to take their beds to the gymnasium as there was no other place for them to sleep. The prisoners are practically packed.

According to the 2008 statistics, each individual in a hundred is behind the bars in US. In spite of the high number of prisoners, the trend has not decreased. The growth in the number of prisoners in the year 2011 was 13% while the number of prisons has remained the same. This is three times the growth of the US population for the year. As of 2007, 1.7 million are packed behind the bars for various reasons (Huus, 2012).

The over crowdedness in the US prisons is a financial burden on the taxpayers. The various state governments are trying to address the issue by trimming the number of people incarcerated, maintaining the fiscal solvency and ensuring the safety of public.

Solitary confinement

Just like people in this world are stereotyped so are prisoners in Jail. There are certain prisoners who are tagged dangerous. This is because of their behavior and the nature of crime they have committed. Solitary confinement is considered an appropriate strategy to prevent the other prisoners who are at risk. This forced solitude causes serious mental problems in the prisoners. This is so because being around humans and experiencing some human activity is the innate right of a man and is essential for sound functioning of the mind. The solitary confinement is sometimes extended to quite a few years. This means that the symptoms or the urge to commit crime can get exacerbated.

In addition, what makes the matter worse is that the isolated prisoners are not provided the mental care treatment that they so need. Even if this condition was not there, the conditions in which the medical practitioners provides care to ...