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Rehabilitate prison
The importance of reducing recidivism
The importance of reducing recidivism
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Prisons are intended not only to hold prisoners, but, also to rehabilitate them and turn them into productive members of society. Though it seems prisons are not doing their job correctly, most prisons, either due to budget constraints or corrupt officers, do not try to rehabilitate them. They serve their time and then are thrown back into the world worse criminals than before. The prison system, in its current form, is flawed. It is nearly impossible to truly rehabilitate someone after prison time.
The prison system, as it is now, has existed for a long time. Only recently has it has it become flawed. Recidivism, or the tendency to relapse into a previous undesirable type of behavior, especially crime, rates are at their highest. Recidivism is as common as person going to jail the first time. Crime has been on the rise but because of our crowding and violence within the system prisoners are not learning what they should or getting the help they need. Then when they are released they will usually keep committing crimes and end up right back in the place that was supposed to keep them from doing it again.
Violence is a serious problem in most traditional prisons. Many people go into prison for small offences but to survive they must harden themselves and live a way of life that is tougher than they ever imagined. Many prisoners are willing to kill, trade drugs and other offences. Because of the worsening conditions in the prisons the almost non-existent rehabilitation programs are counteracted. Worse than the prisoner violence is the complete disregard of the prisoners by the guards and staff.
Once a prisoner has left prison one would think they would be given help to re-enter society. That is not the case. “Ninety-five pe...
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...bilitated. If the prison system stays in its current state we as a country will be worse off. How can we say we are the greatest country in the world if we do not try to help all of our citizens succeed?
Works Cited
Falk, Julie. “Fiscal Lockdown.” Dollars & Sense. July-Aug. 2003: 19+. SIRS Researcher. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.
Johnson, Kevin. “Solitary Confinement Doesn’t Pay.” USA TODAY. 14 June 2010: A1. SIRS Researcher. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.
Lawrence, Alison. “Exit Strategy for parolees.” State Legislatures. June 2010: 20. SIRS Researcher. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.
Sterngold, James. “Worst of the Worst.” Mother Jones. July-Aug. 2008: 48-53. Sirs Researcher. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.
Wood, Graeme. “Prison Without Walls.” Atlantic Montly. Sept. 2010: 86-96. SIRS Researcher. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.
Benson, Etienne. “rehabilitate or Punish.” Moniter. july 2003: 46 web. 17 April 2011.
What are prisons for? This is a question that must be asked in order to understand the problems facing prisons. Prisons serve two main functions; separation and rehabilitation. Criminals cannot be allowed to walk around with everyone else without being punished; they must be separated from society. The thought of going to prison helps deter most people from crime. Rehabilitation is the main goal of prison; making a bad person into a good person by the time they are released. These seem like cut and dry functions, but as of late some believe that prisons in the United States have failed in their attempts to separate and rehabilitate.
A reality where the prisoner is dehumanized and have their rights and mental health abused. “I have endured lockdowns in buildings with little or no heat; lockdowns during which authorities cut off the plumbing completely, so contraband couldn’t be flushed away; and lockdowns where we weren’t allowed out to shower for more than a month” (Hopkins 154). A prisoner currently must survive isolation with improper shelter in the form of heat. Issues compound with a lack of running water and bathing, a proven severe health danger, especially for someone lacking proper nutrients such as a prisoner in lockdown. These abuses of physical well being then manifest into damage of prisoners’ mental well being. “Perhaps I should acknowledge that the lockdown-and, indeed, all these years-have damaged more than I want to believe” (Hopkins 156). Even for the experienced prisoner the wrath of unethically long lockdowns still cause mental damage. Each and every isolation period becomes another psychological beating delivered as the justice system needlessly aims to damage the already harmed inmates. The damage is so profound inmates even recognize the harm done to them by their jailors. An armed and widely used psychological weapon, the elongated lockdown procedures decimate mental health each and every time
When envisioning a prison, one often conceptualizes a grisly scene of hardened rapists and murderers wandering aimlessly down the darkened halls of Alcatraz, as opposed to a pleasant facility catering to the needs of troubled souls. Prisons have long been a source of punishment for inmates in America and the debate continues as to whether or not an overhaul of the US prison system should occur. Such an overhaul would readjust the focuses of prison to rehabilitation and incarceration of inmates instead of the current focuses of punishment and incarceration. Altering the goal of the entire state and federal prison system for the purpose of rehabilitation is an unrealistic objective, however. Rehabilitation should not be the main purpose of prison because there are outlying factors that negatively affect the success of rehabilitation programs and such programs would be too costly for prisons currently struggling to accommodate additional inmate needs.
The past two decades have engendered a very serious and historic shift in the utilization of confinement within the United States. In 1980, there were less than five hundred thousand people confined in the nation’s prisons and jails. Today we have approximately two million and the numbers are still elevating. We are spending over thirty five billion annually on corrections while many other regime accommodations for education, health
... There is no easy solution here. A mass release of prisoners who are not properly rehabilitated is a safety concern to the public and will ultimately lead to those prisoners returning to prison. Building more prisons is not the answer, either. We need to focus on rehabilitating those that are currently in prison and minimize the flow of people entering prison through sentencing reforms.
For centuries, prisons have been attempting to reinforce good behavior through various methods of punishment, some more severe than others. There are several types of punishments which include “corporal punishment, public humiliation, penal bondage, and banishment for more severe offenses, as well as capital punishment”(Linklater, V). Punishments in which are more severe pose the question “Has it gone too far?” and is stripping away the rights and humanity of a criminal justified with the response it is for the protection of the people? Is justice really served? Although prison systems are intense and the experience is one of a kind for sure, it does little to help them as statistics show “two-in-five inmates nationwide return to jail within three years of release”(Ascharya, K).
Maybe if I saw more reports on how prison has improved our society and the criminals who live among us, I would see why we should work on reforming our prisons. Until then, it does not seem to be working. We trust in the government to provide for our safety, but we must take responsibility among ourselves. To understand that the current system does work and that its intent is not to provide a safe society. History has shown us that. What we have done or continue to do will not make this a safer place to live. The problem is not to reform our prison system, for this won't stop criminals to commit crimes, but to find ways and means to deteriorate them from doing the crime.
Howard, John. "The Effects of Prison Overcrowding." P.a.t.r.i.c.k. Crusade. John Howard Society of Alberta, May 2002. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. http://www.patrickcrusade.org
Throughout history into today, there have been many problems with our prison system. Prisons are overcrowded, underfunded, rape rates are off the charts, and we as Americans have no idea how to fix it. We need to have shorter sentences and try to rehabilitate prisoners back to where they can function in society. Many prisoners barely have a high school education and do not receive further education in jail. Guards need to pay more attention to the well being of the inmates and start to notice signs of abuse and address them. These are just a few of the many problems in our prison systems that need to be addressed.
The “Tough on Crime” and “War on Drugs” policies of the 1970s – 1980s have caused an over populated prison system where incarceration is policy and assistance for prevention was placed on the back burner. As of 2005, a little fewer than 2,000 prisoners are being released every day. These individuals have not gone through treatment or been properly assisted in reentering society. This has caused individuals to reenter the prison system after only a year of being release and this problem will not go away, but will get worst if current thinking does not change. This change must be bigger than putting in place some under funded programs that do not provide support. As the current cost of incarceration is around $30,000 a year per inmate, change to the system/procedure must prevent recidivism and the current problem of over-crowed prisons.
Offenders that are incarcerated within the prison quickly find a group of people commonly associated with their ethnic groups to establish a rapport with. They do this to ensure that they reduce the chances of becoming a victim within the confines of prison. The problem is that once they gain reliance with a group of people, they commonly find themselves in a gang. So instead of learning a trade to ensure that they are successful when they are introduced back into society, they more often become educated on the benefits of gang life.
Although it may not seem like a major problem to most people in the United States, prisons are becoming overcrowded, expensive to maintain and have little to no effect on the moral discipline of inmates. The current prison system is extremely inefficient and the purpose of prisons has been completely forgotten. According to Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, the primary purpose of prisons is to punish, to protect, and to rehabilitate. Not only is there an increase in prisoners, but there is a rise in the number of repeat offenders. Alternatives such as counseling, drug rehabilitation, education, job training and victim restitution must be better enforced and organized. People do not understand the severity of the problem mainly because
Many argue that if prison is abolished criminals would run free and commit crimes because the do not face any penalties or punishment for the acts that they commit. Secondly, it can be argued that families of victims or the victims themselves will not seek any justice and this can lead to people committing crimes trying to seek revenge for what has happened. Lastly, it can be argued to keep the community safe when these violent criminals are placed in custody and it can deter others not to commit the same crimes. It can be seen with recidivism statistics such as about 50% of prisoners going back to prison after about year of realises that prison is not working but, instead of abolishing it many argue for prison to be reformed so justice is
All over America, crime is on the rise. Every day, every minute, and even every second someone will commit a crime. Now, I invite you to consider that a crime is taking place as you read this paper. "The fraction of the population in the State and Federal prison has increased in every single year for the last 34 years and the rate for imprisonment today is now five times higher than in 1972"(Russell, 2009). Considering that rate along crime is a serious act. These crimes range from robbery, rape, kidnapping, identity theft, abuse, trafficking, assault, and murder. Crime is a major social problem in the United States. While the correctional system was designed to protect society from offenders it also serves two specific functions. First it can serve as a tool for punishing the offender. This involves making the offender pay for his/her crime while serving time in a correctional facility. On the other hand it can serve as a place to rehabilitate the offender as preparation to be successful as they renter society. The U.S correctional system is a quite controversial subject that leads to questions such as how does our correctional system punish offenders? How does our correctional system rehabilitate offenders? Which method is more effective in reducing crime punishment or rehabilitation? Our correctional system has several ways to punish and rehabilitate offenders.
(2013) Prison: the facts Bromley Briefings Summer. Available from: http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Prisonthefacts.pdf [Accessed 01 January 2014]. Sue Rex, A. and Robinson, G. (2004) Alternative Prison Options for an Insecure Society.