Our fire project presents itself across the globe because there is crime everywhere. The prison system is not the same everywhere around the world but it is still there. It’s not like someone can kill someone in Canada and everyone's okay with it. Some sort of punishment has to be presented. Global issues are so difficult to address because the whole globe doesn’t see eye to eye. It’s difficult for a state , city , or town, even school to address a problem. Imagine trying to address a problem for the entire world. Our country is not exactly the same as any other county. Each county has different values. For crime punishment across the globe could still be stuck in the 16th century. While others are in the 20th or more advanced than others. I believe that the prison topic can be addressed at a global issue. If a group of people around the globe got together to talk about this problem and actually agree on a system together it could be properly addressed.
Crime is a global issue. Quite often there are “criminals” sentenced when they have not been found guilty of the crime. Many serve years before released because of false arrest. This has to do with the conditions in prison because as criminals are being put in jail there isn’t in some cases enough room for additional criminals to be taken in so if crime continues to increases the maintenance would also continue to be poor. According to the website, Maps of the World, “the United States, Germany, France Russia, Italy came in the top five and the countries with the less crime compared to the high ones where Chile, Poland, Spain, Netherlands. As the United States came in with the highest at 12,408,899 in 2011 there was a similar amount of crime in Germany which had 2,112,843 crimes as these two countries are at highest crimes some of the prisons where the criminals are may be poorly managed, maintained affecting prisoner’s health and mentally in 2011. The more crimes there are more prisoners are in jail and if they get affected while in prison it can be seen that either we need to build more prisons or stop violence from occurring because of risk dangers that they can face like problems with health and mentally.
According to news desk editor Laura Smith-Spark, “Ron W. Nikkel, president of Prison Fellowship International, an international nongovernmental organization, says Comayagua [in Honduras] is the worst prison he's visited in the country. “It’s horrifically overcrowded. The bunks are sometimes five, six, seven tiers high, with the lowest person on the totem pole sleeping underneath the bunk on the bottom," he told CNN from Washington.” As this country had a prison under unsanitary conditions the prison suffer while lead to some criminals losing their lives or getting injured. Not only are the prisons filthy, but also some of the criminals that should be punished are not being sentenced. As well as a Californian Prison was in poor conditions according to Global Research, “On May 23, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prison conditions in California violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment and ordered the state to reduce its prison population of 140,000 by 30,000 people.” Overpopulation in prisons like this one can affect the prisoners but also the Constitutional Amendments of the United States. Like some rights that they have as humans that have regardless. False accusations and reducing the amount of prisoners can work together for the benefit of the prisoners being in a safe environment as well as for the ones being falsely convicted of a crime.
As we intend to solve or improve prisons we can solve overpopulation and false accusations in prions. This relates to my topic because this issue is globally in different parts of the globe there may be terrible conditions in prisons but then it can lead to overpopulation and false convictions. According to Hiroko Tabuchi, a New York Times publisher, “in March 2014, Japan released a man believed to be the longest-serving death row inmate in the world after courts concluded that the evidence used against him was likely fabricated” False accusations do not just happen in the United States but it can also happen anywhere just like it happened in Japan. This is important because innocent people are put to serve time in prison and lose some of their life in prison where they lose time to be with their families. According to Penal Reform International “24 national prison systems hold more than double their capacity, with a further 27 countries holding between 150 and 200 per cent more.” These are countries that need to be addressed like El Salvador, Benin, and Philippines first with overpopulation because it will then influence over countries to do the same through creating new prisons, justifying convictions. As Jeff Grabmeier an editor stated, “About 10,000 people in the United States may be wrongfully convicted of serious crimes each year, a new study suggests.” This is a high number of wrongful convictions that occur and those prisoners take up space in the prisons and lead to maintenance being poor causing accidents within the prisons.
- "Top Ten Countries With Highest Reported Crime Rates." World Maps. N.p., n.d. Web.
- "Nasty, Harsh, Overcrowded: Life in a Honduran Prison - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2 015.
- Onesto, Li. "Inhumane Prison Conditions in California." Global Research. N.p., 6 June 2011. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
- Tabuchi, Hiroko. "Soul-Searching as Japan Ends a Man’s Decades on Death Row." The New York Times. The New York Times, 27 Mar. 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
- "Prison Overcrowding - Penal Reform International." RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
- Grabmeier, Jeff. "10,000 INNOCENT PEOPLE CONVICTED EACH YEAR, STUDY ESTIMATES." N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.