Prison Overcrowding: How the "Power of Situation" Breeds Violence

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It seems the judicial system has become experts at trying and incarcerating both violent and non-violent offenders. After 30 years of “getting tough on crime” with mandatory drug sentencing and 3-strike laws, the state penitentiaries are overcrowded and bursting at the seams. Half of all state prisons are filled beyond capacity, and the rest are following suit. 

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California is one of the best examples with a full 200% capacity level. Salinas Valley State Prison (SVSP) in Soledad, California, is a great example of California’s overcrowding and how it deals with the situation. The prison is so overpopulated that there are no longer any cells available to house prisoners. The cells themselves are being overused, housing three prisoners that are only designed for two. 

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To cope, SVSP and other prisons have converted the penitentiary gym into a prisoner’s warehousing unit. The prisoners are staked in bunk-beds three high, which are arranged in a 3X13 rectangle holding roughly 120 aggressive and violent men in an open area with no bars or cells. With no immediate restraints to protect them from others in such a highly aggressive and hostile environment, inmates band together under racial and ethnic lines. Invisible boundary lines in the gym as well as in the restrooms divide and segregate one racial group from another. Not conforming to such territorial restraints can mean an assault, battery, or death. 1

The problem is that inmates are vulnerable to attack and have no means of defending themselves. Another large problem is boredom or idleness with minimal television, reading, or educational material, along with, as you can imagine, poor conversation techniques and no group activity. Along with banding together under racial lines, in essence forming gangs, if one individual from that in-group or gang is attacked, the other members must get involved. This brings attention to what sociologists have been pointing out for years. 

Prisons breed violence because one must be violent to survive! Concurrently, this violent, over-capacity environment creates longer sentences for prisoners because of the need for members to become involved with disputes other than their own. In contemporary society, one can survive on individualized means, but in prison, especially in one that is violent and overcrowded, group adherence is a necessity. 

In a world divided by such intense in-group solidarity, an individual must protect their in-group whether they like it or not, and stand by one’s own even if it means injury or a longer sentence. An individual must be loyal and able to trust a group or someone in such a hostile environment so that if danger happens to come knocking, someone’s help and loyalty are readily available.

For the most part, most prisoners don't have a choice in the actions they choose because the Power of Situation enables and encourages violence as a means of protection (even if just through intimidation). It's simple, overcrowded prisons set prisoners up for failure!  

1. Herivel, Tara. “Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America’s Poor.” Routledge Books. December 2002. 

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