Contemporary jails and prisons face many difficulties, such as overcrowding, managing inmates’ mental and physical health, controlling the level of violence, and many other issues. Jail administration should be ready to face the problems efficiently in order to provide fair judgment and create an atmosphere for the rehabilitation for criminals. The main issues are usually related to mental and sustainable dependency of criminals. In both cases, the strategy of providing health services using Medicaid can be efficient (Evans-Lacko et al., 2018). By using this approach, the jail administration will manage to minimize the deviation behavior, which can contribute to the creation of rehabilitation opportunities. Social rehabilitation can help solve most jail-related problems and decrease crime rates. More emphasis should be put on this strategy because it contributes to the improvements in jails.
Some of the states address mentioned above issues through jail separation. For example, California “county jails separate inmates by race, ethnicity and sexual orientation” (California Country Jails, n.d.). Applying this strategy, the administration minimizes the level of violence within the inmates’ population. Moreover, it allows creating more comfortable conditions for the rehabilitation of the prisoners. However, the problem of overcrowding becomes more severe when such an approach is implemented.
Typically, the jail population of America is racially biased. It is noteworthy that ethnic minorities are often more poor and underprivileged compared with white people. Such a situation raises the question about the biases against minorities within the justice system. Based on the practical analysis, Appel, Key, Ochoa, et al. (2020) state that “compared with white persons, black persons are at increased risk of criminalization” (p. 3). Poverty and challenging living conditions of ethnic minorities cause increased violence and increased crime rates. In jails, such people are also treated with biases, which result in damaging the mental health of not only criminals but also of the whole minorities (Appel, Key, Ochoa, et al., 2020). The researchers offer a rehabilitation strategy to cope with these difficulties (Appel, Key, Ochoa, et al., 2020). From the researchers’ point of view, the government should “invest resources in prioritized diversion of black individuals and of individuals with mental disorders who are charged with misdemeanors” (Appel, Key, Ochoa, et al., 2020, p. 845). By doing so, the jail administration will decrease the racism evolving violence and prevent the jail-related development of mental illnesses.
The separation of criminals with mental illnesses is also a vital strategy to consider. Thanks to Medicaid opportunities, such people can get professional therapists’ help in special jail divisions (Evans-Lacko, Forrester, Hopkin, et al., 2018). When there is no accurate division of the jail population, the administration has no opportunity to provide decent control over the inmates’ mental and physical state. This strategy has one drawback in the lack of integration of minorities. Such an approach may contribute to the increasing racial biases in society. However, it provides more opportunities for the rehabilitation of the inmates, partially solving the problem of overcrowding.
The rehabilitation involving Medicaid services can also be used for solving the problem of the criminals’ sustainable dependency. For example, the researcher proved the effectiveness of medication assistant help for sentenced people (McKee, Moore, Oberleitner, et al., 2019). The estimation showed that community-based substance use of inmates was decreased (McKee, Moore, Oberleitner, et al., 2019). Medical support allows inmates to see the adequate treatment of their problems. Therefore, their psychological understanding of crime and self-identification changes.
The rational division of the jail population and medical support strategies are the most vital aspects of the rehabilitation approach. It can allow decreasing the crime rates and overcrowding of jails and prisons (Balafoutas, García-Gallego, Georgantzis, et al., 2020). The general effect of the appliance of this approach can significantly change society’s understanding of prison. Rehabilitation allows criminals to understand that their problems can be solved. The practical examples of applying this strategy show a positive correlation with crime rates and improvements in the social behavior of ex-criminals (Balafoutas, García-Gallego, Georgantzis, et al., 2020). Even though the rehabilitation strategy is efficient, it has drawbacks. First, it is correlated with the huge governmental expenses. Medicaid programs and the separation of the inmates require significant financial allocations. Second, the strategy cannot solve the overcrowding problem completely. Even the slight changes in crime rates are time-consuming. Therefore, the jail administrations need to consider the redeployment of the jail structure, as was mentioned above. Moreover, the more precise control of the inmates’ medical and mental needs can allow minimizing the violence rates.
The jail administrations face various problems which are pretty challenging to solve. Problems such as overcrowding, inmates with mental illnesses and sustainable dependency, racial-evolving biases result in a high level of violence. The general way to solving these issues is focusing on the rehabilitation approach. One of the strategies which the jail administration can implement within the rehabilitation approach is the inmates’ separation and redistribution according to race, religion, mental state, and other factors. Another strategy is evolving therapies and medical treatment for inmates with mental disorders. Generally, even these steps can enhance inmates’ normal social behavior patterns and provide more ethical imprisonment.
References
Appel, O., Key, J., Ochoa, K., Stephens, D., & Shadravan, S. (2020). Differential incarceration by race-ethnicity and mental health service status in the Los Angeles county jail system. Psychiatric Services, 71(8), 843–846.
Balafoutas, L., García-Gallego, A., Georgantzis, N., Jaber-Lopez, T., Mitrokostasd. E. (2020). Rehabilitation and social behavior: Experiments in prison. Games and Economic Behavior, 119, 148–171.
California Country Jails. (n.d.). CountryJail.
Evans-Lacko, A., Forrester, S., Hopkin, G., & Thornicroft, G. (2018). Interventions at the transition from prison to the community for prisoners with mental illness: A systematic review. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 45, 623–632.
McKee, S., Moore, K., Oberleitner, L., Reid, H., & Smith, K. (2019). Effectiveness of medication assisted treatment for opioid use in prison and jail settings: A meta-analysis and systematic review. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 99, 32–43.