Overcrowding is an issue across the entire world regarding prison populations, especially in the United States. It is starting to affect more people than just the inmates as the over population can cause uneasiness in prisons, resulting in lockdowns. This prevents access to and from the inmates to the outside world. Overcrowding continues to pose a serious problem and threat to facilities. Many cities are working on reducing overcrowding by building new facilities but these quickly become overpopulated and do not serve as a solution to mass incarceration. Cells only meant for two people are housing three or more inmates and some inmates in facilities do not even have beds to sleep on. They sleep on the floor due to limited cell space. Because of this overcrowding issue, there are more lockdowns due to violence or outbursts. This makes it hard for the outside world and inmates to communicate with one another, which causes stress on inmates and loved ones. Another affecting factor is lawyers being unable to meet or communicate with inmates. This affects the scheduling of trials and court appearances as lawyers request more time to meet with their clients and plan their cases, which puts the court system behind.
With limited access to phones and the lockdowns shutting down the facility, there is concern that the inmates might not be receiving or able to access the programming they need. This includes access to academic programs and sessions with social workers, mental health workers and other counselors. Jails and prisons need to start allocating more resources for inmates to take advantage of to help rehabilitate them. Overcrowding is an issue across the United States that needs to be solved, as it creates unsafe and problematic conditions for everyone involved in the criminal justice system.