Reduce How Many People Go to Prison
Most people who commit crimes do not go to prison. They are given warnings, fines, restitution orders, probation or assignment to a service or treatment programme. However, a large number of the others -- of those who are sent to prison -- do not pose a significant risk to their community, their victims or themselves. Nevertheless, they are sent to prison.
One very effective strategy for addressing overcrowding, then, is to determine why they were sent and find a way to address that issue. For example, in many countries a very large percentage of the people in prison are awaiting trial. They have not been found guilty. They are in prison either because they did not have enough money to pay for bail or because no bail has been set because they do not have a lawyer. The solution is to find alternatives to remanding the offenders to custody.
Sometimes they are sentenced to prison because there are not other satisfactory alternatives for the judge. Perhaps she is concerned that the offender will not get the supervision needed to place him on probation. Or she feels that something more than that should be required of the offender. Or she understands that the offender needs treatment, but nothing is available in the community (all too often, it is not available in prison either). The solution is to find alternatives to prison for sentenced offenders.
This section provides articles and brief commentary on both of these strategies. for additional information on the needs and status of prisoners awaiting trial, see Remand Prisoners.
