Overcrowding and its impact on prison conditions and health

• Pages: 65-68
• Published date: 11 June 2018
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPH-04-2018-0014
• Date: 11 June 2018
• Author: Morag MacDonald
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Prisoner health,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice

Morag MacDonald

Overcrowding and its impact on prison conditions and health

Overcrowding has been one of the biggest issues for prisons for many years and we highlighted

this problem in an editorial of IJPH in 2012. However, it is depressing that this remains a serious

problem. Indeed, very little seems to have changed in nearly 30 years. As early as 1990, the

Director General of the English and Welsh Prison Service argued that “the removal of

overcrowding is […] an indispensable pre-condition of sustained and universal improvement in

prison conditions”. He insisted that “for improvement to be solid and service-wide, the canker of

overcrowding must be rooted out”(Prison Reform Trust, 2017). Moving on to 2018, Penal

Reform International (2018) was still able to write that:

Overcrowding is an obvious cause of and contributing factor in many of the health issues in prisons,

most notablyinfectious diseasesand mental health issues. Thelatest data shows that 22 nationalprison

systems hold more than doubletheir capacity, with a further 27 countries operatingat 150-200%.

Overcrowded prisons around the world create difficult and widespread challenges to maintaining

prisoner health and providing a safe environment. Overcrowded prisons can lead to insanitary,

violent conditions that are harmful to the physical and mental well-being of prisoners (UNODC,

2013). Staff who are working in overcrowded prisons are also at risk in a range of ways.

They face greater potential violence from the prisoners, threat of infection and increased stress

and mental health issues. Prison officers are, as a recent UK Ministry of Justice (2017a, b, c)

report noted, leaving the Prison Service in significant numbers.

The scale of overcrowding remains huge. In excess of 10.35 million people are held in penal

institutions worldwide, mostly as pre-trial detainees, remand or sentenced prisoners. Walmsley’s

11th edition of the World Prison Population List (2016) shows that there is some reduction in the

numbers of people being incarcerated in Europe, North and South America and in part of Africa

and Oceania. However, in the Caribbean, Russia and Turkey, the number of prisoners has

actually increased. In all cases, the number of prisoners is still far too high.

Discussion on the negative consequences of overcrowded prisons is not new and in general

there are two responses: build more prisons or reduce the number of prisoners by using reforms

such as amnesties and early release programmes. Neither of these responses, however, is

successful in long-term reduction of prison populations. The Council of Europe first addressed

the issue of overcrowding in 1999 and, more recently, in a White Paper published in 2016.

The White Paper considers moving away from increasing prison capacity and other short-term

measures and addressing the root causes of overcrowding by making “more use of alternatives

to custody and make lesser use of detention in order, among others, to reduce the growth of

prison population”(Council of Europe, 2016: V, a, p. 85). The White Paper also recommends

revision of national penal law, decriminalisation of some offences, providing alternative sanctions,

such as community sentences and victim restitution and more rigorous monitoring of prisons by

independent evaluators (Council of Europe, 2016: V, b).

Preventing overcrowding in prisons is a key initiative to rigorously battle the problems and

concerns for prisoner and staff health resulting from the impact of living and working in

overcrowded prisons. Such prevention measures can include providing programmes to deal

with drug addiction, improve education and employment skills. Both the EU White Paper (2016)

and the UNODC (2013) recommendations to reduce prison overcrowding are broadly similar and

suggest improvements to the judicial systems to encourage efficiency, develop fairer sentencing

policies and promote through-care programmes to increase social reintegration and reduce the

DOI 10.1108/IJPH-04-2018-0014 VOL. 14 NO. 2 2018, pp. 65-68, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1744-9200

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