Like for example, why are they housed in a cell by two, or eat together. If it’s just my false perception caused by Hollywood, then I get it, but doesn’t this allow more violence and plots of escape?
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Most criminals aren’t dangerous enough to require full-time solitary confinement (which is also incredibly cruel to them,) plus it would be expensive to build prisons with completely separate facilities for every inmate.
* It is far too costly to give each inmate their own cell and their own facility to eat in.
* *Some* inmates are treated this way but that is usually only because they are the absolute most violent and/or as a form of punishment (look up solitary confinement).
To save money. The same reason kids have to share bedrooms. You can’t give every prisoner a private apartment and dining service. Especially when you have many prisons owned by private corporations whose primary duty is to maximize profits for shareholders. They’re gonna stack them up as high as they can, violence and rapes be damned.
There are many factors that go into this. First and foremost they are human beings. Human beings are naturally social creatures so having others around regardless stops them from going insane. I mean imagine having someone in solitary confinement for years then when their sentence is up you release them on the street. It would be terrifying. Besides the actual human aspect of it, it just costs way too much. Let’s say we make prisons for violent and nonviolent criminals. It would be absurdly expensive to constantly build 2 prisons for 1 place. You’d have to buy the land, buy the materials, build the place, get utilities to both facilities, the costs would add up quickly. As far as I know those are the main reasons.
In lots of countries prisons are actually just one cell for each. The US has by far the highest incarceration rate of all countries, so giving each prisoner his own cell would be far too costly.
It is notable that it’s more a problem specific to the US, or third/second world countries that lack lots of other infrastructure as well. So there’s no logic or science behind it other than saving costs. Ideally every prisoner gets their own cell, besides communal and resocializing activities that are being offered to the less violent.
In many countries, it is not cells for 2 like you see in the movies.
But cells for 4-5-6 people.
It is a measure for saving money. A lot of countries are missing room for criminals. While some others have extra space. So sometimes you have countries sending criminals to other countries. Even that exists.
While some countries like Nordic ones have pretty nice prisons for not high-class criminals. You could see pictures on Reddit.
About escaping. It is not that common. People tend to do their time and want a clean slate, not to run their whole life from the police.
But prisons are mostly contra productive, they tend to turn people into bigger criminals than they were.
The main reason criminals are housed together in prison is for security purposes. By keeping them together, prison staff can more easily keep an eye on them and prevent any violence or escape attempts. Additionally, it is cheaper to house prisoners together than it would be to keep them in individual cells.
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