The problem of prison overcrowding

PRISONS are not meant to be nice places. But allowing inmates a certain amount of space is good practice, even in places where it is not a legal requirement. On July 8th over 30,000 prisoners in California began a hunger strike to protest the use of solitary confinement. Several hundred still refuse food. California's prisons are overcrowded as well. The state Supreme Court has ruled that the number of inmates in its 33 facilities must be cut to 100,000 prisoners; they currently hold 124,000, which is 46% more than their capacity. But as a whole, America's county, state and federal prisons are just slightly under full capacity, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies in London. In Europe, each prisoner is supposed to have 7m² in a cell alone or 4m² of space when sharing a cell with others. Yet prison overcrowding is common there too. Jails in Italy, France and England and Wales are over capacity, partly because many more people have been locked up in recent years. Many countries do not provide data on capacity, such as China and much of the Middle East. But of those that do, the problem tends to be worst where crime is high and money to house prisoners is tight.