One of the most pressing problems currently facing the correctional system in American society is overcrowding. In 2000, the number of imprisoned American adults reached 1.86 million, making U.S. the top country in the world with the highest number of incarcerated individuals. Many prisons are stretched past their limits. For example, the Lancaster State Prison in California that is designed to house 2,200 prisoners holds over 4,000 in the minimum- and maximum-security sections. Overcrowding has triggered riots and violence among prisoners (Dungan, 2001, p. 2). Furthermore, the quantity and quality of services for prisoners have also declined with excessive numbers of prisoners (Green in Wilson, 1996, p. 2). More importantly, the stressful conditions of squeezing people into limited space have also resulted in cases of misconduct by correctional officers including illicit sexual activity with prisoners (Dungan, 2001, p. 2).
The problem of overcrowding has resulted from numerous causes. Because of the widely perceived failure of many poorly implemented rehabilitation problems during the 1960s and 1970s, many policymakers decided to adopt a hardened stance on crime starting from the 1980s (Miller, 1989, pp. 1-5; Robison, 2001, p. 2). In 1984, Congress passed the Sentencing Reform Act that eliminated federal parole and established the Sentencing Commission to create firm sentencing guidelines for federal crimes. Two years later, Congress also determined that drug offenders should be given harsh minimum sentences for possession of crack. During the last decade, Congress has also supported the states' crackdown on crime by increasing punishments for repeat offenders (Robison, 2001, p. 2).
In many states such as California, the imposition of compulsory minimum sentences, the stringent punishment of parolees who violated parole and the implementation of the three-strikes law have further exacerbated the situation of prison overcrowdi...