Correctional Facility Challenges Arising From Funding Crisis

Reducing the funding allocated to the correctional facilities can result in various challenges which may compromise the operations of those facilities. The key challenges that could be faced by correctional facilities are diverse in nature but mainly have to do with shortage of finances. The first challenge would be in the staffing sector. As prisons receive fewer funds, they are more likely to reduce the expenditure in this department through reduction of remuneration, reduction of employee population and elimination of pay increase (Jacobson, 2006). The staffing challenge can result in other impacts such as compromising the security and safety of prison personnel as they attend to more prisoners and take up greater roles. In addition to this, funding crisis in the prison facilities can also result in poor management of the facility programs. As a result, the prisons may downsize some of the critical programs just to ensure the expenditures are kept low (Cole et al., 2013).

Programs such as community reentry program can be most affected by reduction of funding to prisons. As a result, the inmates may have difficulty in gaining successful reentry into the community. Apart from this, budget cuts also have the potential of reducing capital expenditures on various important aspects. For instance, reduction in surveillance expenditures can result in increased insecurity and reduced safety. With the increasing number of inmates in prison facilities, there is need for expansion of prison facilities to accommodate the increasing inmate population. With budget cuts, the expansion of prison facilities is compromised. To deal with the issue of budget cuts, there are various measures that could be taken by prison management authorities. For instance, the human resources departments should focus on redesigning the roles of prison officials to ensure most of them can fit in various positions.

References

Cole, G. F., Smith, C. E., & DeJong, C. (2013). The American system of criminal justice. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning.

Jacobson, M. (2006). Downsizing prisons: How to reduce crime and end mass incarceration. New York: New York University Press.

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