War on Drugs and Prison Over Crowding Essay Example

correctional centers, the existing facilities have continuously been strained due overcrowding. The largest number of inmates in Texas prison is facing charges due to illegal drug possession. Models have been developed to reduce the high incarceration rates overcrowding that result from illegal drug possession and use remains considerably high.

Tough laws aimed at reducing the use of illegal drugs in Texas make prisoners stay longer in correctional centers. Allowing drug offenders to serve shorter sentences will help reduce the duration a convict stays in prison and as a result, reduce the number of prisoners held in the state of Texas. By reducing the duration inmates are held for offenses related to drug abuse and increasing fines; it is easier to reduce the overcrowding effect in correctional organizations in the state of Texas. Overcrowding reduces the management efficiency and increases the costs of running correctional organizations considerably and hence the need to reduce the duration law breakers through drug abuse are held in correctional organizations. Tough laws increase the number of minor offenders and as a result lead to the overcrowding of prisons and other available correctional organizations (Blackburn, Fowler & Pollock, 2012).

Minor offenders should receive alternative treatment other than being held in already overcrowded correctional centers. The federal government should create a model that will increase the number of offenders released on a monthly basis due to drug charges. Returning of foreign prisoners to their countries and states will also aid in reducing the overcrowding present in the Texas state correctional centers. The policy makers should look for or create more correctional organizations that will hold drug offenders. Such organizations that will include non-governmental organization can

help raise awareness on the negative impacts of drug use and this discourages the use of illegal drugs. With more correctional organizations set up, the correctional centers will manage to offer rehabilitative services to individuals convicted of drug abuse.

Effective rehabilitative programs in correctional centers increase effective service delivery that is evidenced through reduced recidivism. The correctional l centers are unable to provide effective remedial services in an overcrowded context. Other firms that step in will help reduce the high concentration of offenders in the few available correctional centers. They will also create space to hold other drug offenders without compromising their basic human rights and ensuring that they receive fair treatment according to the law. Measures aimed at preventing the possession and distribution of drugs provide a reliable and sustainable solution to the overcrowding resulting from the war on drugs. The federal government should allocate resources that will help in the tracing of the sources and ways through which such illegal drugs required (Marion, 2011).

Cutting the supply of illegal drugs will considerably reduce the number of persons charged with illegal possession or use of drugs, Texas Criminal Justice Coalition notes that of every ten arrests nine individuals are charged with possessing and distributing illegal drugs. Stopping the individuals from possessing and distributing the illegal drugs will help reduce the number of people arrested for illegal possession and use of drugs. Stopping the possession and use of illegal use of drugs in Texas should, therefore, begin by identifying the distribution channels and identifying the existing gaps in stopping the distribution of illegal drugs. Identification and destabilization of existing drug cartels in the state of Texas will,

therefore, play an important role in preventing the possession of illegal drugs which will lead to a reduced overcrowding effect in correctional organizations. The courts should provide a provision for allowing drug offenders in seeking alternative rehabilitative services (Ismaili, 2015).

Although such minor offenders will plead guilty, they will not have the optional of paying rehabilitative services in recommended organizations. Such measures reduce the costs of handling offenders in overcrowded organizational centers. Individuals should, however, be allowed to get alternative treatment before they are placed in correctional the state-funded correctional measures. Such measures will reduce costs and discourage the possession and use of illegal drugs. In this case offering the choice of seeking alternative rehabilitative services will make people pay for their services and reduce the cost burden to the state government. The challenge with this method is that very rich individuals may always consider the alternative strategy of seeking alternative rehabilitative services after recidivism.

Oathout (2005) argued that there was a need to create more drug courts to reduce the overcrowding present in Texas. The drug courts are an effective model that the federal government can use to offer alternative punishment to illegal drug possession and use offenders. The challenge of using drug courts is that the federal government use soft strategies in addressing the illegal possession of drugs. Illegal used and possession of drugs harms the economy and the health of the general public.

Offering alternative solutions to incarceration may increase the usage drugs among the population. There is need therefore to expand the available correctional organizations as a short-term strategy to reduce overcrowding and to increase awareness of the illegal use and possession of drugs.

Community-based organizations and other nongovernmental organizations can work with the state government to develop behavior change communication strategies.

References

1. Blackburn, A. G., Fowler, S. K., & Pollock, J. M. (2012). Prisons Today and Tomorrow. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
2. Ismaili, K. (2015).

   US Criminal Justice Policy. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

3. Marion, N. (2011). Federal government and criminal justice. Springer.
4. Oathout, B.

   S. (2005). Texas Needs More Drug Courts. Scholar, 8, 69.

5. Reid, S. T.

   (2011). Criminal Justice Essentials. John Wiley & Sons.

6. Trulson, C. R., & Marquart, J. W.

   (2010). First Available Cell: Desegregation of the Texas Prison System. University of Texas Press.