Introduction Private Prison
The United States has the largest Private Prison population in the world. We incarcerate so many people that even China — a country with four times as many citizens — doesn’t even come close to matching us. It’s estimated that nearly two million people are currently incarcerated in our country, which is more than all other Western countries combined.
And while this may seem like a huge number, there are signs that it could be getting worse: An alarming number of Americans are affected by mass incarceration. an estimated 50 million people have had an immediate family member or friend imprisoned at some point during their lifetime.
High suicide rates
The suicide rate in prison is the leading cause of death among inmates. More than half of suicides in prison occur within the first six months after admission, according to a study by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Researches at Cornell University found that private prisons have higher suicide rates than public prisons, even when controlling for inmate demographics and other variables.
One possible explanation for this phenomenon is that there are fewer resources available to prisoners in privately run facilities because they don’t receive as many tax dollars.
Inmates with mental health issues may be more susceptible to committing suicide than those without them. however, understaffed and underfunded public institutions often lack the resources necessary to properly treat.
their population’s mental illnesses before placing them behind bars. This can lead them into an environment where they’re more likely to commit self-harm or kill themselves due to a lack of support from their peers or inadequate treatment by staff members.
Understaffing
The shortage of staff is also leading to an overlooked, but serious problem: understaffing. In a correctional facility. the ratio of inmates to staff should be no less than 1:10 and no more than 1:15. In some prisons, this ratio has been as high as 1:50.
This lack of supervision means that inmates are being left unsupervised, which can lead to incidents like riots or self-harm. Additionally, because there aren’t enough guards for each inmate’s needs, many prisoners are not receiving the education or mental health treatment they need. This can cause them to become even more dangerous when released back into society than they were when they entered prison in the first place.
Inmates don’t get enough medical care or mental health treatment.
You might be wondering how inmates who are in jail for committing crimes get medical care. The answer to that question isn’t simple, but it boils down to private companies making money off of the system.
Many prisoners often have to wait hours or even days just to see a doctor or dentist, and they only receive medication when prescribed by a doctor. Prisoners are also forced to pay for their own medical care out of their own pocket, which can be very expensive if you’re not wealthy before going into prison.
Poor food quality Private Prison
Nobody likes a bland prison meal, but would you still be willing to eat it if the food was made from rotten ingredients? Unfortunately, this is a question that many inmates in private prisons must answer on a daily basis.
The general quality of food served by private prisons is often significantly lower than what is served in public prisons. The reason for this has to do with how these facilities are run and funded.
Public facilities receive money from their state governments and can therefore afford higher quality ingredients for the meals they prepare—including those used for prisoners’ sandwiches and pasta dishes.
Private facilities, on the other hand, get their money from other sources (usually federal grants) and lack sufficient funding to buy high-quality ingredients. which means they typically serve subpar meals made with low-quality meat products like hot dogs or chicken nuggets found at grocery stores like Walmart or Target (and even worse).
In addition to serving undercooked meats that may harbor salmonella bacteria or E coli strains, private prison kitchens also tend not to refrigerate raw foods properly before cooking them; as a result these items could spoil quickly if not eaten right away after being prepared by an inmate chef whose culinary training consists mainly of microwave instructions found on YouTube videos!
Low-quality housing conditions
When you think of a prison, the first thing that comes to mind is not the quality of air. But in private prisons, low-quality housing conditions can be more than just an inconvenience: they’re often deadly.
Inmates are housed in cells with poor air quality that makes it hard for them to breathe, causing respiratory problems like asthma and bronchitis. Inmates also don’t receive proper sanitation services like cleaning supplies or laundry detergent; this leads to unsanitary living conditions where bacteria thrive on unwashed clothes and blankets.
And these unsanitary living conditions lead right into poor food quality; inmates often don’t have access to nutritious meals since they’re served pre-packaged food instead of fresh ingredients prepared by professional cooks (although there are some exceptions).
Plus—since they get paid less per hour than their counterparts outside prison walls—the wages aren’t enough for inmates’ families who want them home again after serving time inside walls.
The private prison system is failing its inmates
Private prisons are failing their inmates, the taxpayers and society as a whole. The health of prisoners is at risk in these facilities.
They are overcrowded, understaffed and poorly maintained. Inmates face inadequate medical care and psychological support for their needs. These failings have been well documented by independent researchers like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
The failure of private prisons to provide adequate care has devastating consequences for the health of inmates who are already in poor health when they enter prison.
Research shows that people with mental illness or those who have experienced trauma before entering prison often do not receive treatment while behind bars because there simply aren’t enough staff members trained to address these issues effectively.—and this leads directly into many other problems such as self-harm, suicide attempts or even death from untreated conditions like sepsis (blood poisoning).
Also read : America’s 10 Most Dangerous Prisons
Conclusion
We know that the American justice system is far from perfect. Prisons are overcrowded, and many of the inmates who enter through their doors will be released back into society with a criminal record and little chance of finding work.
This can lead to more crime and more people being sent back to prison in an endless cycle. But it doesn’t have to be this way! We can make positive changes by pushing for reforms that improve conditions for prisoners within our current system (like improving access to mental health care). as well as lobbying for changes like shorter sentences or programs that help ex-offenders reintegrate into society successfully after release from prison (such as job training).