Are prisons actually working?

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I have done some research and found out that prisons are at a crucial moment in time, and believe that people are just letting it fly through their head. The amount of women in prison has flown up by 33% over only the past couple of years, so many people go to prisons now that they are overful. In this standpoint I will talk about the positives and negatives and also conclusion.

Negatives of prisons are extremely crucial with how they are overful worldwide. All the prisons worldwide are having the same problem. This ends up leading to something like, no privacy, extremely unhealthy environments and zero space absolutely anywhere.

Firstly, prisons are overflowing massively. There are actually 11.5 million people in prison right now and climbing they would have to enrol into making even more prisons. This could make lives safer and happier for citizens.

In conclusion I believe that a huge issue is upon us and we need to act fast about it. Like maybe bringing in some new laws or making more prisons. I feel if we were to do this it would work and possibly help lower the amount of people in prison, but if not that there would at least be more space for people. But if this doesn’t work I thought about how 50% of people get released but go back to prison within the first year. I thought this and came up with the idea that, what if at the prison there are people or something that could help them, leaving us with a safer world.

Comments (11)

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  • I agree with you, we should make more prisons and new laws. There are too many people committing crimes and we need to keep them in check. The fact that 11.5 million people are in jail right now surprises me. I feel like people do anything and they don't care about jail because they think they can run away from the police.

    1. I think instead of building more prisons, the roots of the problem should be addressed, and we should work to educate people about laws and crime prevention and help vulnerable people. Some people are at risk of committing offences due to their circumstances, such as bad influences and poverty, which is particularly relevant due to the current cost of living crisis.
      Building more prisons wouldn't solve the issues driving people to them: we should prevent crime altogether rather than build more reformative or punishment prisons.

      1. I completely agree with you because I believe people should be educated of the reality of prisons. A person who has no prior knowledge to the harsh reality of life in prison or the consequences of crime, is more likely to commit the crimes. This may be because they lack the funds for this education or even because they have no other way of survival. From 2022 to 2023, there has been a rise of 600,000 people who have have reached absolute poverty. This is significant as if could, like you said, lead to more crimes committed like theft. In addition, 40% more crimes have been committed by income deprived households. So, the government should help solve the root of the problem by providing safety, shelter and basic necessities instead of spending enormous amounts of money building more prisons.

        1. I agree because if people behave well, as in they have knowledge about things and understanding about different policies which can make their life better, they may not choose a path where they are considered criminals. Many times, crimes occur due to bad opportunities at present or because of some certain people, but if humans express humanity, kindness and compassion to fellow humans, crime rate can decrease. Additionally, we would not have to waste extensive land to make lot of prisons, or use that limited land for criminals, instead for people who are landless and homeless.

  • I say that prisons are working because most prisons can be secure so that means prisoners can't get out of their jail cell.Some can make it literally impossible to get out of.Some jail cell are reformative meaning that some prisons have prisoners do duty's to make them become better people.Other jail cells are just punishment,that means if you do something bad well lets just say that"justice is served".But all these jell cells are really good and they"re all working.

  • For me prisons are working Many prisonerare imprisoned there, deprived of For a long period, which may be years or months, this makes them regret it, because freedom is the most important thing in a person’s life Which It is the sun that makes him work to get it

  • I agree, prisons needs new laws, however, we need more prisons. Criminals rates are increasing and the prisons are not keeping them in check. The jails simply contain the criminals and don't try to protect them while in jail. Police officers need to be trained stricter and have stricter rules.

  • I agree with you because prisons are supposed to be a punishment and reformative. Nowadays prisons aren't as scary as before. They aren't secure which is a massive issue. If a prison is not secure the prisoners could easily escape especially the world's most deadliest criminals. And if the Government talks about the financial and the economy, making a prison secure is much less expensive then letting whole gangs go rampage on cities. Secondly, why are these criminals still committing these acts? Do they have an agenda? Do they have a task they have to complete? Are they still unhappy with the Government? If the Government wants these criminals to reform themselves they need to make Prisons more reformative. Because without a prison which is reformative how do you expect the prisoners to reform themselves and become good citizens? I just want to say that without a change in the prisons, you can't expect the person to change, not even by the slightest bit.

  • I agree! In paragraph #2 you stated, "This ends up leading to something like, no privacy, extremely unhealthy environments and zero space absolutely anywhere." I agree! Prisons don't care much about the prisoners and their safety and it is absolutely unacceptable.

  • I agree with you! Especially in paragraph #1 when you stated, "Like maybe bringing in some new laws or making more prisons. I feel if we were to do this it would work and possibly help lower the amount of people in prison, but if not that there would at least be more space for people." I agree that prisons need newer laws that go hand in hand with the 20th century. I also agree that prisons are too cramp and new ones need to be built.

  • I agree we need new prisons and new laws some people are in prison for idiotic reasons and have jail time for up to 10 years for doing something miniscule . We also need bigger, stronger, cleaner, more guarded, and more established prisons overall. If prisoners are living like how they are now then we are no better. Of course most of them did bad things but treating them bad will only make things worse.

  • I think making more prisons is not the real solution. As it is well known that prevention is better than cure. Decreasing the rate of crimes is key solution. If there aren't people who commit crimes there would be no need for anyone to go to prisons. Being honest, it is really scary that 11 million people are in prison and have commited some kind of crime. By increasing security, avoiding conflicts and having good police in all localities could help reduce crimes. I think the mindset of a person also plays a huge role in making them a commit crimes, if they are given therapy or counselling from a psychologist it could help lead them in a better direction.

  • Hello Topical Talkers,
    I do not think making more prisons will help with this issue. I think the root problem is that prisons are not doing enough to actually help people become better citizens. I think they're only keeping them locked up in a environment where there's other dangerous people and bad things going on, and this kind of environment will affect their mental health. I agree that prisons should have something or people that can help them

  • I personally am not really agreeing with this because your just punishing them and its not really giving an effect on their behaviour. It's just trapping them in a metal steel cage and the police aren't doing anything about it. Once they are free to leave then they will probably go back to doing bad things over and over again.