TOUGHER CRIMINAL LEGISLATION MEANS PRISON OVERCROWDING: THE END OF THE ROAD FOR PRISONS AS AGENTS FOR REHABILITATION.

Contemporary responses to the notion of advancing a ‘sense ’ of criminal justice through tougher penalties and longer prison sentences has led to a crisis for correctional administrators. The crisis is prison overcrowding. While there have been many explanations about overcrowded prison occupancy levels; politically motivated initiatives based on social concerns that are at best ill-informed, appears the main instigator for this problem. Januszyk (1997) argues that people, police, politicians, and the media know very little of what really happens in prison. Yet, the justification for administering tougher prison sentences has major implications for correctional administrators and program providers alike. Often charged with the responsibility of ‘rehabilitating ’ prisoners, so as they can return to and function in society free of the temptation or will to commit further crime, overcrowded prisons places additional and more demanding expectations on prison program providers. This paper presents details about the problems associated with prison overcrowding for prisoners and how this can impact on service providers. The paper also suggests some strategies to address these problems