Budget Cuts to the Correctional System the

Budget Cuts to the Correctional System The country is still in the grips of a massive financial crisis. As companies and government organizations continue to feel the impact of the recent financial crisis, budgets are being slashed across the board. Unfortunately, that means that funding formerly allocated for public goods and programs is being cut as well. One of the largest budget cuts seen in a number of states across the country has been within the context of correctional facilities.

Due to the exurbanite costs of keeping the prison systems running effectively, correctional facilities have been a major target for budget slashing. However, this leaves these facilities vulnerable and unable to care for the massive number of inmates that are in their charge. The last few decades had actually seen an increase in prison spending, as more and more facilities diversified their programs and practices to incorporate new methods of inmate care. During the 1990s, there seemed to be huge increases in corrections budgets across the country (King & Mauer 2002).

Research often states that this is because of an increase in the overall prison populations, which forced correctional facilities to increase their operating costs dramatically. By the turn of the millennium, the prison system was spending an average of $25,000 annually on each inmate (Luekefeld & Tims 1992). This number had increased to over $28,000 annually by 2004 (Awofeso 2005). The continuous increase in prison spending then made it a target when the financial status of the country turned for the worse.

The research shows that 2001 saw spending of over $38 billion on corrections (King & Mauer 2002). When the financial crisis hit, many looked at that much money as unnecessary. According to the research, "In an era of increasingly tight budgets, many states are seeking to identify areas in which they can make significant cuts, and the growing corrections budget is one that is being considered" most often (King & Mauer 2002 p 13).

As the economic situation in the United States began to deteriorate, many within government were looking to scale back spending on America's prisons in order to help allocate funding for other genres, like education. The enormous budget of the correctional facilities was almost unanimously one of the first on the chopping block. Thus, "Budget shortfalls in nearly every state have driven many states to consider cutting corrections budgets," (King & Mauer 2002 p 3).

Many prison facilities since the onslaught of the financial crisis have had to deal with declining funding while still trying to maintain proper services and programs for the health and well being of both inmates and staff. Unfortunately, it is often the staff that is most impacted with these budget cuts, as facilities are forced to commence with lay offs in order to keep themselves above water. However, these budget cuts could cost much more than jobs.

In fact, there are those who believe that the budget cuts currently being implemented will take away from the authoritative power of the correctional facilities to best do the job they are meant to -- rehabilitating inmates. In their work Prison and Jails: A Reader, Tewksbury & Dabney (2008) examine the practices and policies from the perspective of running correctional facilities. It is the critical evaluation of how the correctional facility works that allows many to see just how damaging these budget cuts could essentially be.

The work focuses on exploring how the running of modern correctional facilities involves much more than simply incarcerating people. In fact, there is a wide range of practices and elements that go into running a facility smoothly (Tewksbury & Dabney 2008). Thus, the practices and policies that are being put in jeopardy by these budget cuts are much more complicated and intricate than many would assume from a more external positions.

Modern prisons are currently dealing with a number of problems and issues that take devotion, time, and funding to work out. Here, Tewksbury and Dabney (2008) present a number of examples of specific contexts that need devotion and allocation of funds in order to best protect the well-being of both inmates and staff. Unfortunately, many prisons have to deal with both employee and inmate misconduct in appropriate manners that will help lead to viable solutions for the well-being of the facility (Tewksbury & Dabney 2008).

This forces prison authorities to have plans on how to deal with specific instances of misconduct, even from prison staff. In order to best approach this, funding and effort is needed to train and educate staff and executive authorities on how to spot and handle specific issues. Moreover, there is also the very difficult task of managing culturally sensitive differences within inmate populations (Tewksbury & Dabney 2008). Prisons deal with a wide variety of inmates, which then create differences in gender, age, and ethnicity.

There is a need for modern correctional facilities to provide differing degrees and levels of rehabilitation treatment for very unique populations within the prison (Tewksbury & Dabney 2008). Yet, with the recent wave of budget cuts, the prison systems in the United States are unable to keep producing programs and practices that would allow for greater attention to inmate needs. One of the most impacted arenas within these facilities is the availability and scope of healthcare that is allocated for the inmates. Healthcare for inmates can vary dramatically.

According to the research "prison healthcare is becoming harder to fund adequately" with all of the budget cuts that are coming down from state legislatures (Awofeso 2005). In Texas, the daily healthcare cost for each inmate was between $5.98 and $5.11 (Awofeso 2005). Yet, prisoners themselves do not pay for their own healthcare, tax payers do. Drug treatment programs have played a crucial role in helping rehabilitate inmates, yet are now in jeopardy because of such massive budget cuts.

Here, the research suggests that "Drug dependence and abuse among incarcerated populations is a stark reality that enormously complicates the task of rehabilitating offenders," (Luekefeld & Tims 1992 p 8). Drug treatment programs are needed in order to reduce inmate problems associated with addiction.