Overcrowding In Prisons

We all have a stereotype of what we think prisons look like or really how they are in the inside. We base these perceptions off of movies, tv shows and really what we read on the internet. But as a society we should notice that pop culture either waters the experience down or intensifies it for great ratings. Tv shows and movies like Orange Is the New Black, Prison Break, Oz and The Longest Yard all show us a different side of this spectrum. When in reality prisons today do show both spectrums at times but they are mainly about minding your own business and just doing the time. Orange Is the New Black and The Longest Yard are two shows that display what it is like to be in a prison that has some fluff to it. In Orange Is the New black, they …show more content…
Overcrowding is a big problem that we deal with in prisons across the United States. The U.S. has half a million more prisoners than China does. Overcrowding started in the great depression when people were stealing food and supplies in order to live. After the great depression was over the War of Drugs came into existence which led to major drug control and no-knock warrants. After the War of Drugs took place, the three strike laws came about which stated if you are convicted of three felonies than you were mandatory in prison for life. In 1970-1999 were when the conditions of overcrowding were at the max, prisoners began to fight back the government. In 2011, California got in trouble with the supreme court due to endangering health and safety of the prisoners in their facility. Overcrowding in prisons can be very dangerous and lead to some serious problems. Health care is also a very big issue prisons face. Most of the time prisoners are neglected and not given a chance to go to the doctor. HIV/Aids are widely spread amongst prisoners. Many of the prisoners get sick due to the unhealthy/ unsanitary conditions of the prisons. Overcrowding can just add to the spread of the disease. State prisons are a lot worse when it comes to this health issue, most of the time they just ignore it because they know these people are not staying that long and will get help the moment their …show more content…
In Texas more than 170,000 inmates in July 1998 were diagnosed with a major or acute chronic conditions. Each disease varies by age, race, and sex. During this time, texas has saw a big improvement in there health care in prison. With this program in place, the dropout rates in prisons of nurses and doctors have decreased drastically. It went from 30-40% to 8-12% in just nine years. Addition to that, there was a drastically drop n numbers in several diseases. Having medical students in the prisons have reduced the amount of spending that prisons do. In the first six years that the program was up in running, they saved and overall $215 million. In the united states alone we give healthcare 1.8 million dollars a year for them to not give help to the inmates. This system could be a fix amongst all prisons health care across the united states. This could be the answer. This article disconforms to the representation to pop culture. In pop culture you see a lot of doctors and nurses and people just walking to the pharmacy and asking for meds. Where as in today’s prisons, doctors and nurses are scarce. Each state has to have good incentives to get nurses and doctors to leave hospitals and come over to them. So if the U.S made medical students do a couple of rotations in a prison, they

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