Budget Cuts to the Correctional System the Essay

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Budget Cuts to the Correctional System

The country is still in the grips of a massive financial crisis. As companies and government organizations continue to feel the impact of the recent financial crisis, budgets are being slashed across the board. Unfortunately, that means that funding formerly allocated for public goods and programs is being cut as well. One of the largest budget cuts seen in a number of states across the country has been within the context of correctional facilities. Due to the exurbanite costs of keeping the prison systems running effectively, correctional facilities have been a major target for budget slashing. However, this leaves these facilities vulnerable and unable to care for the massive number of inmates that are in their charge.

The last few decades had actually seen an increase in prison spending, as more and more facilities diversified their programs and practices to incorporate new methods of inmate care. During the 1990s, there seemed to be huge increases in corrections budgets across the country (King & Mauer 2002). Research often states that this is because of an increase in the overall prison populations, which forced correctional facilities to increase their operating costs dramatically. By the turn of the millennium, the prison system was spending an average of $25,000 annually on each inmate (Luekefeld & Tims 1992). This number had increased to over $28,000 annually by 2004 (Awofeso 2005). The continuous increase in prison spending then made it a target when the financial status of the country turned for the worse. The research shows that 2001 saw spending of over $38 billion on corrections (King & Mauer 2002). When the financial crisis hit, many looked at that much money as unnecessary. According to the research, "In an era of increasingly tight budgets, many states are seeking to identify areas in which they can make significant cuts, and the growing corrections budget is one that is being considered" most often (King & Mauer 2002 p 13). As the economic situation in the United States began to deteriorate, many within government were looking to scale back spending on America's prisons in order to help allocate funding for other genres, like education.

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The enormous budget of the correctional facilities was almost unanimously one of the first on the chopping block. Thus, "Budget shortfalls in nearly every state have driven many states to consider cutting corrections budgets," (King & Mauer 2002 p 3). Many prison facilities since the onslaught of the financial crisis have had to deal with declining funding while still trying to maintain proper services and programs for the health and well being of both inmates and staff. Unfortunately, it is often the staff that is most impacted with these budget cuts, as facilities are forced to commence with lay offs in order to keep themselves above water.

However, these budget cuts could cost much more than jobs. In fact, there are those who believe that the budget cuts currently being implemented will take away from the authoritative power of the correctional facilities to best do the job they are meant to -- rehabilitating inmates. In their work Prison and Jails: A Reader, Tewksbury & Dabney (2008) examine the practices and policies from the perspective of running correctional facilities. It is the critical evaluation of how the correctional facility works that allows many to see just how damaging these budget cuts could essentially be. The work focuses on exploring how the running of modern correctional facilities involves much more than simply incarcerating people. In fact, there is a wide range of practices and elements that go into running a facility smoothly (Tewksbury & Dabney 2008). Thus, the practices and policies that are being put in jeopardy by these budget cuts are much more complicated and intricate than many would assume from a more external….....

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