Prison Population Growth Research Articles

O SISTEMA PRISIONAL NO BRASIL: UMA ANÁLISE DOS DESAFIOS E PERSPECTIVAS DE REFORMA

The Brazilian prison system is a complex and challenging issue that has raised heated debates over the years. With a growing prison population and precarious conditions in prisons, the reality of penitentiary institutions in the country presents a worrying picture. The purpose of prisons, which should be the rehabilitation of inmates, is often distorted by overcrowding, violence and lack of opportunities for social reintegration. In this context, this work aims to analyze the challenges faced by the Brazilian prison system and explore the reform perspectives that can be adopted to face such problems. It is crucial to understand the historical roots of this system, as well as the contemporary factors that have contributed to its current situation. Throughout this study, a comprehensive bibliographical review will be carried out, gathering data and analyzes from research, government reports and academic studies that focus on the subject. It is essential to emphasize that an effective reform of the prison system does not only imply improving the physical conditions of prisons, but also promoting actions that favor social reintegration and the reduction of criminal recidivism. In addition, civil society participation and dialogue between the various actors involved are crucial elements for building sustainable and humanized solutions.

Plea Bargaining as a Reform in Criminal Procedure Law: An Analysis of Article 199 of the Draft Criminal Procedure Code

The criminal justice process in Indonesia is characterized by lengthy proceedings, significant costs, and a growing prison population, highlighting the need for new policies to address these challenges. The adoption of the plea-bargaining concept, prevalent in common law jurisdictions, offers a potential solution for the Indonesian criminal justice system. Article 199 of the Draft Law on Criminal Procedure introduces a similar concept, allowing defendants who admit guilt to crimes punishable by no more than seven years in prison to have their cases transferred to a shorter trial process. This normative juridical research employed both statutory and conceptual analyses to evaluate the relevance of plea bargaining in the Indonesian context. It aims to assess whether the plea bargaining provisions in Article 199 of the Draft Criminal Procedure Code align with the principles of simplicity, speed, and cost-effectiveness, and whether they conform to Pancasila, the foundational ideology of Indonesia.

Self-reported tuberculosis in Ecuador’s prisons: an analysis of its prevalence and determinants in 2022

Purpose Despite the growing prison population in South America and the high prevalence of infectious diseases, there is limited evidence on the factors associated with self-reported tuberculosis (TB) in this population. This study aims to identify the factors associated with self-reported TB among inmates in all prisons across Ecuador. Design/methodology/approach The 2022 Prison Census was used. The presence of TB was self-reported based on the question: Has any doctor diagnosed you with any of the following diseases: Tuberculosis? Prevalence ratios (PR) were obtained using crude and multivariable models along with their 95% confidence intervals (CI) using a generalized linear model with random effect at the prison level to assess the association among the study variables. Findings The prevalence of self-reported TB was 4.7%. Socio-demographic factors (prisoners aged between 18 and 29 years and indigenous), clinical factors (human immunodeficiency virus [HIV] infection, diabetes and attempted suicide) and imprisonment characteristics (re-offender, having a medical check-up on admission and being incarcerated for 6 months or more) increased the prevalence of self-reported TB compared with their counterparts. Originality/value This study provides a detailed understanding of the factors contributing to the prevalence of self-reported TB in the prison population of Ecuador. The findings highlight the need for strategies focused on TB control through diagnosis and treatment, management of HIV, diabetes and malnutrition, as well as the restructuring of prison facilities. Implementing these measures is crucial for addressing the identified factors and improving inmate health conditions.

Prison Nurseries: A Review of Maternal and Infant Rooming in Outcomes for Incarcerated Mothers

Women are the fastest growing prison population in Canada, and at incarceration, 4-10 percent of women are pregnant. These women, their correctional facilities, and Canadian health care services are increasingly forced to address the issues of motherhood and reproductive health care during incarceration. Most incarcerated women are separated from their infants soon after birth. The authors claim that prison nurseries, as a harm reduction strategy, are a positive alternative to this separation. Midwives could play a valuable role in these health care units. Methods: This paper is a literature review examining the outcomes of mother-infant dyads who have access to prison nurseries. The search strategy included 15 health research databases, applying similar search terms to all databases. This article has been peer reviewed.

The effects of electronic monitoring on offenders and their families

Electronic monitoring (EM) has emerged as a popular tool for curbing the growth of large prison populations. Evidence on the causal effects of EM on criminal recidivism is, however, limited and it is unclear how this alternative to incarceration affects the labor supply of offenders and the outcomes of their family members. We study the countrywide expansion of EM in Sweden in 1997 wherein offenders sentenced to up to three months in prison were granted the option to substitute incarceration with EM. Our difference-in-differences estimates, which compare the change in the prison inflow rate of treated offenders to that of non-treated offenders with slightly longer sentences, show that the reform significantly decreased the number of incarcerations. Our main finding is that EM not only lowers criminal recidivism but also increases labor supply. Additionally, EM improves the educational attainment and early-life earnings of the children whose parents were exposed to the reform. The primary mechanisms through which EM operates appear to involve the preservation of offenders’ ties to the labor market, by reducing the barriers to both finding a job and changing employers. Our calculations suggest that the social benefits stemming from EM are about seven times larger than the fiscal savings associated with reduced prison expenditures, implying that the welfare gains from EM could be much greater than previously acknowledged.

Applying a Maternal Standards of Care Audit Tool and Quality Improvement Process to Improve Healthcare for Pregnant Women in Prison.

Women are the fastest growing prison population, but little is known about the quality of maternal care for pregnant women in prison. In partnership with the Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) Transitional Healthcare Team (THT), we developed a maternal standard of care (MSOC) audit tool to identify existing strengths and weaknesses and recommend evidence-based strategies for improvement. After creating the MSOC audit tool, we used it to audit 52 charts and conducted interviews of IDOC staff regarding maternal health care processes. Identified strengths include prenatal care, screening/treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and substance use disorders, contraception use, and health education. Mental and nutritional health care are areas of weakness. Staff motivation and community partnerships facilitate positive change, but a "punitive" culture, lack of resources, and communication challenges are barriers to change. Developing accountability tools and processes to promote maternal standards of care holds the potential to increase the health and wellbeing of mothers and their babies and improve re-integration into society.

Risk Reduction Policies to Reduce HIV in Prisons: Ethical and Legal Considerations and Needs for Integrated Approaches.

The United States has the fastest growing prison population in the world, and elevated incarceration rates, substance use, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence are fueling each other. Yet without a national guideline mandated for HIV care within the prison system, standards for state and federal prisons vary greatly.

Паноптично-карцерна держава крізь призму показників пенітенціарної політики ХХІ століття

The article is devoted to the study of quantitative indicators of the national prison policies in different states of the world for the period 2000 – 2021. The article focuses on the issue of prison population growth at the global and regional levels. This article is a continuation of the author’s research on the implementation of the concept of a panoptic-carceral state in modern societies od the XXI century. That is why the study of the policy of social control in the XXI century urgently requires the use of statistical data for empirical testing of hypotheses regarding the greater incarceration of society in the XXI century. Fundamental for the purposes of this study is the author’s thesis of the further incarceration of society both at the global and national levels and the failure of the classical goals of criminal punishment, which are considered traditional within the framework of the formal approach to punishment and the goals of punishment. The above is manifested in the continued growth of the number of prisoners in the world, despite external criticism of extremely convenient imprisonment as a form of social control. The author’s thesis is related to the further legitimization of the failure of the prison in the prison policy of modern states and the transformation of probation services, parole services and other non-institutional ‘attachments’ into de-facto camouflaged branches of the prison. In addition, quantitative and qualitative statistical indicators of placement of deviants under the supervision of national probation services, parole services or similar public and private structures should be taken into account. Based on the results of the research, it is concluded that the number of prisoners in the global context has increased over the past 20 years. Countries in Africa continue to show an increase in the number of prisoners, although the African picture is very controversial given that a large number of African countries, on the contrary, maintain a trend of decreasing the total number of prisoners. As for the countries of America, it is precisely the countries of South America that provide such growth in view of the parallel rather significant decrease in the number of prisoners in the United States of America in recent years. As for Asian countries, in general, the situation is more or less stable in most countries, although a small increase in the number of prisoners can be also noted. As for the countries of Oceania, as can be seen, there has been no reduction in the total prison population at all. And finally, only European countries, thanks to the long-term implementation of policies aimed at reducing the number of prisoners, show significant progress in decarceration, replacing traditional mechanisms of social control with other, more flexible forms.

All-cause and cause-specific mortality during and following incarceration in Brazil: A retrospective cohort study.

Mortality during and after incarceration is poorly understood in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The need to address this knowledge gap is especially urgent in South America, which has the fastest growing prison population in the world. In Brazil, insufficient data have precluded our understanding of all-cause and cause-specific mortality during and after incarceration. We linked incarceration and mortality databases for the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul to obtain a retrospective cohort of 114,751 individuals with recent incarceration. Between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2018, we identified 3,127 deaths of individuals with recent incarceration (705 in detention and 2,422 following release). We analyzed age-standardized, all-cause, and cause-specific mortality rates among individuals detained in different facility types and following release, compared to non-incarcerated residents. We additionally modeled mortality rates over time during and after incarceration for all causes of death, violence, or suicide. Deaths in custody were 2.2 times the number reported by the national prison administration (n = 317). Incarcerated men and boys experienced elevated mortality, compared with the non-incarcerated population, due to increased risk of death from violence, suicide, and communicable diseases, with the highest standardized incidence rate ratio (IRR) in semi-open prisons (2.4; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.0 to 2.8), police stations (3.1; 95% CI: 2.5 to 3.9), and youth detention (8.1; 95% CI: 5.9 to 10.8). Incarcerated women experienced increased mortality from suicide (IRR = 6.0, 95% CI: 1.2 to 17.7) and communicable diseases (IRR = 2.5, 95% CI: 1.1 to 5.0). Following release from prison, mortality was markedly elevated for men (IRR = 3.0; 95% CI: 2.8 to 3.1) and women (IRR = 2.4; 95% CI: 2.1 to 2.9). The risk of violent death and suicide was highest immediately post-release and declined over time; however, all-cause mortality remained elevated 8 years post-release. The limitations of this study include inability to establish causality, uncertain reliability of data during incarceration, and underestimation of mortality rates due to imperfect database linkage. Incarcerated individuals in Brazil experienced increased mortality from violence, suicide, and communicable diseases. Mortality was heightened following release for all leading causes of death, with particularly high risk of early violent death and elevated all-cause mortality up to 8 years post-release. These disparities may have been underrecognized in Brazil due to underreporting and insufficient data.

(In)-justice: An exploration of the dehumanization, victimization, criminalization, and over-incarceration of Indigenous women in Canada

Indigenous women are vastly overrepresented in Canada’s federal prisons and represent the fastest growing prison population in Canada. This critical commentary utilizes a decolonial framework to examine how being Indigenous and female increases one’s risk of being victimized, murdered, and subject to colonial control by exploring the connections between the construction of Indigenous women as less than human and the use of carceral space to control, destroy, and assimilate this population. Specifically, the authors apply Woolford and Gacek’s notion of genocidal carcerality to the intersectional forces of systemic racism and discrimination that result in their overincarceration. Further, the article critiques the Indigenization of Canada’s federal correctional service for failing to meet the needs of this population and for perpetuating an assimilative and stereotypical portrayal of Indigenous women that perpetuates colonial harm.

Adversariality, Plea Bargaining, and Prison Population Growth: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

During the two decades after the end of the Cold War, the U.S. promoted Latin America's deepest criminal justice transformation. By the end of 2010, approximately 70% of Latin American countries had abandoned their inquisitorial system and adopted the U.S. model. In the mass- incarceration era, the U.S. expanded its adversarial model without considering the consequences in foreign penitentiary systems. Despite a large body of literature documenting the scale of imprisonment in the U.S. and its effects on inequality outcomes, we know relatively little about the U.S. impact in Latin American prisons. After the reform took place, almost every country that introduced it experienced an acceleration in incarceration rates. Almost three decades after this transformation, Latin America lives one of its majors' prison crisis, while the effect of adversariality remains empirically unexplored. In this project, I seek to advance the literature on mass-incarceration studying the consequences of the U.S. transnational agenda in one key jurisdiction -Colombia. Mainly, I will explore the effects of adversariality and introducing controversial institutions like plea bargaining into the Latin American context. To carry out this analysis, I exploit the Colombian quasi-experimental case showing that the U.S. model caused an increase of 18%-30% in Colombian incarceration rates.

Commentary: Assessing the Global Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Prison Populations

ABSTRACT The author directs the World Prison Research Programme at the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research, based at Birkbeck (University of London). The programme’s research team monitors trends in world prison populations and examines the causes and the consequences of rising levels of imprisonment. A core component of the programme involves compiling and hosting the World Prison Brief, an online database providing free access to information about prison systems throughout the world. This Commentary revisits key findings from the Programme’s ongoing work on prison population growth and its links to prison overcrowding and poor standards of prison healthcare. Within this context, some of the main impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on prison systems worldwide will be discussed, with a focus on measures taken to reduce prison population sizes and restrictions put in place in prison regimes (including suspending social and other visits to prisons, home or work leave for prisoners, and related restrictions) to help control spread of the virus. Compensatory measures introduced to lessen the adverse effects of greater isolation and reduced contact with the outside world are discussed. It is argued that the pandemic has revealed an unprecedented need for a more health-informed approach to penal reform.

The Second Convict Age: Explaining the Return of Mass Imprisonment in Australia

Constructing a new series of incarceration rates from 1860 to 2018, I find that Australia now incarcerates a greater share of the adult population than at any point since the late nineteenth century. Much of this increase has occurred since the mid‐1980s. Since 1985, the Australian incarceration rate has risen by 130 per cent, and now stands at 0.22 per cent of adults (221 prisoners per 100,000 adults). Recalculating Indigenous incarceration rates so that they are comparable over a long time‐span, I find that incarceration rates for Indigenous Australians have risen dramatically. Fully 2.5 per cent of Indigenous adults are incarcerated (2,481 prisoners per 100,000 adults), a higher share than among African‐Americans. The recent increase in the Australian prison population does not seem to be due to crime rates, which have mostly declined over the past generation. Instead, higher reporting rates, stricter policing practices, tougher sentencing laws, and more stringent bail laws appear to be the main drivers of Australia's growing prison population.

The Second Convict Age: Explaining the Return of Mass Imprisonment in Australia

Constructing a new series of incarceration rates from 1860 to 2018, I find that Australia now incarcerates a greater share of the adult population than at any point since the late nineteenth century. Much of this increase has occurred since the mid-1980s. Since 1985, the Australian incarceration rate has risen by 130 percent, and now stands at 0.22 percent of adults (221 prisoners per 100,000 adults). Recalculating Indigenous incarceration rates so that they are comparable over a long time span, I find that incarceration rates for Indigenous Australians have risen dramatically. Fully 2.5 percent of Indigenous adults are incarcerated (2481 prisoners per 100,000 adults), a higher share than among African-Americans. The recent increase in the Australian prison population does not seem to be due to crime rates, which have mostly declined over the past generation. Instead, higher reporting rates, stricter policing practices, tougher sentencing laws, and more stringent bail laws appear to be the main drivers of Australia's growing prison population.

The Second Convict Age: Explaining the Return of Mass Imprisonment in Australia

Constructing a new series of incarceration rates from 1860 to 2018, I find that Australia now incarcerates a greater share of the adult population than at any point since the late nineteenth century. Much of this increase has occurred since the mid-1980s. Since 1985, the Australian incarceration rate has risen by 130 percent, and now stands at 0.22 percent of adults (221 prisoners per 100,000 adults). Recalculating Indigenous incarceration rates so that they are comparable over a long time span, I find that incarceration rates for Indigenous Australians have risen dramatically. Fully 2.5 percent of Indigenous adults are incarcerated (2481 prisoners per 100,000 adults), a higher share than among African-Americans. The recent increase in the Australian prison population does not seem to be due to crime rates, which have mostly declined over the past generation. Instead, higher reporting rates, stricter policing practices, tougher sentencing laws, and more stringent bail laws appear to be the main drivers of Australia’s growing prison population.

Causes of Aging in the Federal Prison Population and a Comparison to States

The unremitting growth of older inmates in prison populations is one of the most pressing concerns in federal corrections today; however, empirical research on the topic says little about the causes of these changes. This article addresses this gap by applying an established methodology to analyze and quantify the contributions of key factors driving the growth of aging federal prison populations. Specifically, we use data from the Federal Justice Statistics Program (FJSP) to determine how changes to prisoner age at entry, rate of entry, and rate of exit have shaped the prison population over recent decades. Overall, we find that from 1994 to 2004, rapid increases in the rate of prisoner admission explain the majority of growth in the elderly population, but that since 2004, age at admission has been much more important, with longer time served and rate of admission also playing a role. These influences appear to be quite different from those shaping state prison populations. Our results suggest optimal policy responses to aging populations will need to be tailored to their jurisdiction.

Prisoners in Arizona: A 2017 Update on Selected Topics

In this edition of Prisoners in Arizona we provide an update to the findings of the previous report published in June of 2014. That report covered a wide range of inmate-related subjects with an emphasis on trends in inmate characteristics. In this report, we take a somewhat more focused view of several main topics, including prison population growth, changes in the inmate population, and recidivism. As these were also among the main topics in the 2014 report, it will be a simple matter to transition from that report to this one. One of the primary conclusions of the previous study was that the inmate population is again on the upswing following a 35-month hiatus. After growing by an average of 106 per month over 38 years, the population started plummeting in November of 2009. The prison population was falling by an average of 27 per month between Nov. 2009 and July 2012. But from August 2012 through June 2016, the inmate population was steadily growing again, averaging 75 per month. However, the number of state prisoners has once again fallen into sharp decline. From July 2016 through June 2017, the population has decreased by an average of 53 per month. Chapter 1 documents the magnitude of the inmate population trends. Chapters 2 and 3 identify several contributing factors to that change. Chapter 4 departs from the subject of population change to take a close look at one our favorite research topics – recidivism. Recidivism rates are placed under a microscope and examined for predictive validity. Recidivism is also tracked over time with interesting results. The data reflect the impact on the system of repeat offenders, and the effect of “evidence-based practices” that have been integrated into probation services over the last several years. Chapter 5 looks at the average prison sentences for those who are convicted of various types of drug offenses. The results show that those convicted of trafficking spend much longer times in prison than those who are convicted of possession, and that trafficking or possession of marijuana involves shorter prison terms than for other types of drugs. An Appendix examines the rate of convictions for undocumented and documented immigrants and U.S. citizens. Our intent from the beginning of this series of reports is to show who is in prison and why. We hope to dispel the myths often repeated in policy discussions concerning prosecutorial discretion and sentencing practices. But along the way, we have also learned not only which offender categories pose the greatest risk to society, but also which groups should be targeted for enhanced supervision and focused rehabilitative services. These findings may help inform decisions about balancing control with assistance. This is not a new idea, as most agencies strive to accomplish this goal. However, it is well worth repeating, since preventing even one major crime is a worthy endeavor.

Explanations for the Punitive Turn of Crime Policy in Bolivia, 2006-2016

In the last decade, Bolivia, as with most countries in the region, has seen an unprecedented increase of its prison population. This is often explained as the consequence of a punitive populism sweeping Latin America. Our article investigates what triggered this punitive turn in Bolivia by identifying some of the factors that impact crime policy and growing prison populations since the election of president Evo Morales in 2006. We argue that a complex array of local and international factors and shifts in crime policy to harden approaches to domestic violence led to steep increases in remand populations. Combined with other inefficiencies in the criminal justice system, this led to sustained increases in the prison population throughout most of this period. This study is based on new and previously unstudied statistical data produced by the Bolivian institutions in charge of implementing crime policy.

Public Attitudes Toward New Prisons in New Zealand and Deficit Narratives: A Quantitative Survey

The imprisonment rate in New Zealand ranks seventh among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Yet the imprisonment of Indigenous people is on par with the United States, which has the world’s highest incarceration rate. Almost 70% of the prison population in New Zealand is comprised of people racialized as non-White. In 2016, the National Government proposed to spend $2.5 billion over a 5-year period to build new prisons (1,500 prison beds) to accommodate a growing prison population. This study assessed public attitudes toward the need for more prisons and the equity of treatment of individuals within the criminal justice system. Findings from a 2016 and 2017 quantitative survey of 5,000 respondents each year revealed that roughly half of the respondents believed the proposed spending for new prisons to be extremely to somewhat necessary. A large proportion of respondents also believed Māori and Pākehā, if convicted of the same crime, are treated similarly within the criminal justice system. New Zealand scholars have critiqued news media coverage of contentious sociopolitical issues, such as crime and prisons, for employing tactics that have worked to construct a morally and culturally deficit “Other” while normalizing whiteness, rendering it invisible and raceless. This article concludes that this process masks racial disparities of individuals located within the criminal justice system and preserves the ideal that prisons are a normal function of the social landscape.

The Power of Storytelling: The Experiences of Incarcerated Women Sharing Their Stories.

Women are the fastest growing prison population in the United States. Women who are incarcerated are characterized by significant mental health needs and intense societal stigma. Despite such vulnerabilities, little is known about their experiences or the pathways that lead them toward recovery and rehabilitation. This qualitative research explores the lived experiences of incarcerated women sharing their stories with high school students and their teachers as part of a community outreach project entitled "Stories of Change." Six women were interviewed about what it was like to participate in the project. The data were coded and analyzed using phenomenological techniques, and the results were interpreted through a social constructionist framework. Five themes were revealed through an analysis of the interviews: (a) making a contribution, (b) connecting with others, (c) difficulty of telling their story, (d) identifying personal growth, and (e) moving forward. Storytelling is a powerful experience with lasting effects on the teller. This research explores the phenomenon of storytelling within a context of incarceration and stigma. These findings point toward the importance of providing programming to women within the criminal justice system that allows for meaningful interaction with normative individuals and opportunities for storytelling.