I plan to write my issue brief about the safety of prisons in America. This is relevant to today because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, this has been an issue and topic in headlines since before the pandemic. Because of communal living, prisons quickly became a breeding ground for the coronavirus making prisoner safety a headline in the news. Before this finding cost effective solutions for the treatment of prisoners and the safety of their living situation was a topic of discussion.
This issue arose due to inadvertent causes. Prisoners are easily overlooked in America because they have committed crimes and therefore people pay less attention to their needs. It is easy to let them live in a bad situation because we can blame them and say that they did this to themselves. It is also easy to let prisons deteriorate. Most people do not want to spend money trying to fix prisons since they are not a societal attraction. Therefore, the institution (prisons) and the head of these institutions inadvertently let prisons deteriorate creating safety problems for prisoners.
I think that for my issue, the best policy instrument would be system changes. This would involve changing how prisons work and make them safer and better environments for prisoners. Also, I think that mandates would be another useful policy instrument in this case. It is important to set strict standards regarding how prisons should run and what actions must be taken to keep prisoners safe.
I never really considered prisoner safety during this pandemic but I can definitely see how this is a very relevant topic that needs to be addressed. I agree that this is more of an inadvertent cause as the prisoners are often forgotten due to their criminal history. I definitely believe that forming a policy would involve a system change as it is highly overlooked. I would also consider maybe doing a combination with capacity building, since awareness needs to be raised about this issue because people (like myself) have not even considered prisoner safety.
I think you make a very good point. It is important to educate people about this issue since it may not be as well-known as some other issues today. Also, I liked the suggestion about a policy involving capacity building. That could be an important thing to take into account in a policy to fix this issue.
Life in prison has been a popular topic way before the start of the pandemic due to the controversy of solitary confinement and acts against the prisoners. I agree that this is an inadvertent issue as the government is more focused on majority of the population. Finally, I would recommend being specfic in your solution as there are many different changes that could make prisons a safer place.
Yes, I agree. This issue has been more relevant lately with the pandemic. I will definitely do more research as to specific solutions/policies that can be used to help solve this issue. I want to make sure they are realistic and cost effective solutions.