California has some of the most severely overcrowded prisons. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Plata that the overcrowding in California prisons is cruel and unusual punishment, which is a violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments” (Blanco, 2018).
“In this undated file photo released by the California Department of Corrections, inmates sit in crowded conditions at the California Institute for Men in Chino, Calif. A special panel of federal judges tentatively ruled Monday, Feb. 9, 2009, that California must release tens of thousands of inmates to relieve overcrowding. The judges said no other solution will improve conditions so poor that inmates die regularly of suicides or lack of proper care” (AP Photo/California Department of Corrections).
In Illinois, the prison system is meant to hold a little over 33,000 inmates. In 2012, 49,000 inmates were incarcerated (Blanco, 2018).
Iowa prisons are overcrowded by 25% over capacity, and, in 2009, staff was reduced from 3,064 to 2,820” (Blanco, 2018).
In some prisons, when the dangerous presence of black mold occurs prisoners are not relocated. Outside of prisons, if a place has recurring black mold it is condemned due to its danger. Prisoners are not given this luxury (Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, 2017).
Alabama prisoners say they have been punished for trying to improve conditions and reduce violence. Prisoners were placed in solitary confinement, and, when they went on a hunger strike, water was cut off from their cells, leaving them dehydrated and unable to flush their toilets. They were given nothing but a mattress and all of their property was confiscated. (Rakia, 2019).
Violence in Alabama prisons grabbed national attention earlier this month when the Department of Justice issued a scathing report detailing how overcrowding, dismal conditions, a lack of staff, and deliberate indifference from prison officials contributed to rampant unchecked violence, sexual abuse, and extortion. But prisoners have tried to expose this reality for years” (Rakia, 2019).
References
Blanco, J. (2018). Prison overcrowding statistics. Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/prison-overcrowding-statistics-causes-effects.html.
Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee. (2017). Black mold and toxic prisons. Retrieved from https://incarceratedworkers.org/news/black-mold-and-toxic-prisons.
Rakia, R. (2019). Alabama prisoners say they’ve been punished for trying to reduce violence. Retrieved from https://theappeal.org/alabama-prisoners-say-theyve-been-punished-for-trying-to-reduce-violence/.