Prisoner's Rights

Mass-Incarceration – US Numbers are Down, but for the Wrong Reasons

December 8, 2022 | By James S. Friedman, LLC

According to a recent Bureau of Justice Statistics report, the number of individuals held in state or federal prisons in the United States declined 15% from 2019 to 2020, which appears to be the latest time period for which data is available. Most jurisdictions showed declines ranging from 7% to 31% The number of individuals receiving sentences exceeding a year in either state or federal prison also declined.

The problem is that the COVID pandemic was largely responsible for the decline in incarceration at both the state and federal level. Courts nationwide substantially altered their operations for either part or all of 2020. There were significant delays in trials and/or sentencing proceedings for defendants generally. This was reflected in a 40% decrease in admissions to both state and federal facilities from 2019.

As of the end of 2020, the number of state or federal prisoners had decreased by 15% from 2019, and by 25% from 2009, which is the year the number of inmates in the United States peaked. Nine states showed decreases in the number of incarcerated individuals of at least 20% from 2019 to 2020. The prison populations of California and Texas, as well as the number of individuals in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, each declined by more than 22,500 from 2019 to 2020. This accounted for 33% of the total prison population decrease.

New Federal Prison Reforms Include Establishment of School District Within Federal Prison System

December 22, 2016 | By James S. Friedman, LLC

One of the most frustrating aspects of prison life concerns inmate efforts to enroll in classes and programs offered within the prison system. Virtually every prison system offers inmate programs that are designed to train inmates for re-entry into society. These programs, which are designed to address many of the issues that caused the inmate to offend and be incarcerated, include drug and alcohol counseling, anger management, general societal skills, and vocational training. It is believed, and hoped, that participation in such programs ultimately reduces recidivism by enhancing an inmate’s ability to contribute to the community in a positive and productive way upon release. The programs are also important because successful completion in as many of them as possible can increase the likelihood of an earlier release on parole. Earlier inmate release reduces prison costs, and frees prison resources for use elsewhere.

The issue that causes frustration relative to inmate programs is that there are not enough of them, and most of the existing ones are too small to meet the demand. Many inmates try to enroll in programs during their term of incarceration, only to be placed on a waiting list because there is insufficient space to accommodate everyone. It is not unusual for inmates to appear at parole hearings with a prison record showing the attempt to enroll in programs to which they were not admitted because the program was already full. Many inmates – particularly non-violent offenders with relatively minimal records, or those with mental health or drug or alcohol issues – could benefit from such programs if there were more of them, and if the programs could hold more people. Once again, the issue is cost. We needs to ask where we want to spend our prison dollars. Do we want to spend money on simply incarcerating people only to release them exactly as they were when they entered the criminal justice system thereby increasing their risk of re-offending or, alternatively, do we want to devote resources to training and education that will hopefully equip inmates to succeed upon release?

This is not a “feel-bad-for-the-poor-inmate” argument; rather, this has to do with spending large amounts of real taxpayer dollars in the most efficient and effective manner possible. Spending money on just locking people up in a cage is patently silly and ultimately accomplishes nothing; spending money on training them to succeed after they are released is smart. It is noteworthy that we are coming out of an election season. Government spending and costs are issues frequently discussed in every federal and state election cycle. Every candidate for every executive position wants to cut costs, and they each seem to have this endless list of proposed cuts that they will make if elected. I cannot remember any candidate for any executive office ever discuss cutting a prison budget while they were on the campaign trail. In light of the size of our national prison bill, stemming largely from the fact that that the US incarcerates more people than any other country on the planet, this issue clearly merits more attention. The prison system is almost certainly one of the largest line items in the federal budget and in every state budget, and we can lower that number by, among other things, providing inmate training and education geared toward reducing recidivism. Continue reading ›

New Report Confirms Mentally Ill Prison Inmates Receive Inadequate Services and are Abused

May 12, 2015 | By James S. Friedman, LLC

Human Rights Watch (“HRW”) recently issued a new Report finding that mentally ill inmates in US prisons are frequently mistreated, neglected and abused. The Report also contains a lot of information concerning the role of prisons in the mental health system in this country.

First, according to the HRW Report, prisons have become the primary mental health care facilities in the United States. One in every six inmates is mentally ill. In fact, there are three times as many mentally ill prison inmates as there are patients in mental health care facilities. The rate of mental illness in our prison population is three times higher than in our general population. Figures gathered by the US Justice Department buttress these findings. According to a DOJ study, 75% of women and 50% of men in State prisons, and 75% of women and 63% of men in local jails, will have a mental health problem requiring services in any given year.

Mentally ill inmates experience mistreatment and abuse on two different fronts. First, inmates who do not suffer from mental illness routinely exploit them. Additionally, their mental illness frequently leads them to violate institutional rules (e.g., making excessive noise, failing to comply with orders, cursing, banging on cell doors), with the result that they are punished for displaying the symptoms of their respective illnesses. Depending upon the facts and circumstances surrounding a given violation, an inmate can be punished with placement in administrative segregation (the “hole”). A sufficiently long period of time in such an environment can cause their illness to worsen significantly. Inmates have also been subjected to excessive force by corrections officers, and some have even died from asphyxiation because of the manner in which guards have tried to control them. Continue reading ›

Off-Label Use of Psychotropic Meds to Sedate Prison Inmates

December 14, 2014 | By James S. Friedman, LLC

National Public Radio recently ran stories concerning the off-label use of psychotropic medications to sedate nursing home residents to make them more pliable and easier for staff to control. Unfortunately, this abuse does not occur only in nursing homes. It happens in jails and prisons in the United States and other countries.

Several stories have recently appeared concerning the use of these mind-altering medications to control inmates in Canadian prisons. This has, however, been a concern in US jails and prisons, as well. I have spoke with mental health professionals who service prison populations, and they confirm that it happens here with increasing frequency.

One of the most routinely used drugs is known is quetiapine, more commonly known by the brand name Seroquel. This medication is approved only for treating bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia; however, it is apparently given as a sedative to jail and prison inmates who do not have such disorders just to make them easier to control. Continue reading ›