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Containing Pennsylvania Offenders

NCJ Number
125706
Date Published
1990
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This report contains a description of the prison overcrowding problem in Pennsylvania, an analysis of the factors contributing to the problem, and recommendations on how to alleviate overcrowding.
Abstract
Crowding has been felt most significantly in local and State correctional facilities. The percentage of convicted offenders sentenced to these facilities has grown dramatically during the past decade. The growth in the correctional population is the result of the following situations: (1) more offenders being sentenced to correctional sanctions; (2) offenders remaining under correctional supervision longer; (3) more offenders with substance abuse problems; and (4) more of the same offenders "recirculating" in the correctional system. Recommendations to alleviate overcrowding in the correctional system include: (1) additional prison construction for confinement of violent high risk offenders; (2) expansion of special intensive supervision programs for technical parole violators; (3) establishment of "boot camps" for selected low risk offenders; and (4) adjustment of sentencing guidelines to re-allocate offenders in order to better utilize limited institutional capacity. 8 figures, 8 tables.