Addressing Key Issues in Correctional Facilities
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Addressing Key Issues in Correctional Facilities
The multitude of problems inside correctional facilities, including inadequate mental
healthcare services, insufficient personnel levels, and rising safety risks, create complex
interaction patterns. The established difficulties influence inmates and correctional officers while
creating major impacts across society as a whole. The resolution of these problems demands both
deep knowledge of their causative elements and useful approaches to create better results across
all sectors.
Analysis of Key Challenges
Mental health issues present critical problems that are spreading out of control throughout
correctional facilities. Prison inmates with backgrounds of deprivation undergo poor treatment of
their mental health conditions, which leads to substantial stress throughout the prison
environment. Katel (2024) reveals that U.S. prisons experience a severe mental illness crisis
because inmates lack proper mental health care, which drives people to harm themselves and
commit suicide. According to Baggio et al. (2020), prison overcrowding combined with poor
conditions enhances inmate violence levels, which creates additional stress for the system.
The institution also faces critical staff shortages as a major challenge. According to the
Correctional Needs Assessment (2022), the correctional system encounters major challenges in
maintaining both employee recruitment and staff retention. Low morale, high turnover rates, and
insufficient training create insufficient staff numbers. The limited workforce becomes
detrimental to facility security and makes it difficult to offer key services that include mental