You are in a dark, clammy room. Eight steps to your right, you meet a wall; ten steps forward, another. Your only possessions for the next few days, weeks, or maybe even years, are a cot, a toilet and the clothes on your back; you’re granted no human contact, and a taste of freedom only one hour a day—in a cage. This is solitary confinement. “The degree of a civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons,” speculates Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, whose literary works analyzed the human psychology. Prisons are typically thought of as a facility in which criminals are stripped of their freedoms and punished for their crimes; it is also used to instill fear onto those who dare fathom breaking the law. America has the highest …show more content…
The results concluded, “67.8% of the 404,638 state prisoners released in 2005 in 30 states were arrested within 3 years of release, and 76.6% were arrested within 5 years of release” (Durose et al 1). It seems as though punishment is not always the answer. An American psychologist and behaviorist, B. F. Skinner, carried out studies which show that humans tend to deliver the desired response most effectively when positively reinforced. “Positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior by providing a consequence an individual finds rewarding” (McLeod). For that reason, good behavior in prison should be rewarded in whatever way deemed appropriate. When disciplinary actions are introduced, on the other hand, with intentions to stop undesired behaviors, there are consequences. Quite frankly, it may not even lead to the desired behavior; it may just result in a highly distressed individual with increased aggression, as a coping mechanism. “Punished behavior is not forgotten, it 's suppressed - behavior returns when punishment is no longer present” (McLeod). This would explain why prisoners go back to their old ways once they are no longer being punished. I am not saying that prisoners should not be reprimanded for bad behavior; I am insisting, however, that rehabilitative services will lessen these negative occurrences, and be more effective in shaping a satisfactory …show more content…
Some may say that it is absurd to give criminals benefits such as therapy, chapels, education, and more, when they have committed crimes and should be held accountable for their actions. In addition, punishing criminals serves as a deterrent to those on the outside, in hopes of diminishing the crime rates. Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, asserted, “We need to make it clear— in America, we do not throw people away.” On April 9, 2008, the Second Chance Act (SCA) was signed into law. This act, receiving bipartisan support, backs “state, local, and tribal governments and nonprofit organizations in their work to reduce recidivism and improve outcomes for people returning from state and federal prisons, local jails, and juvenile facilities” (“Second Chance Act”). The SCA is not the only effort to prioritize rehabilitation in prisons; Kenneth E. Hartman is chairman of the Steering Committee for the Honor Program in California State Prison, starting in
Throughout his novel, Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire, author and professor Robert Perkinson outlines the three current dominant purposes of prison. The first, punishment, is the act of disciplining offenders in an effort to prevent them from recommitting a particular crime. Harsh punishment encourages prisoners to behave because many will not want to face the consequences of further incarceration. While the purpose of punishment is often denounced, many do agree that prison should continue to be used as a means of protecting law-abiding citizens from violent offenders. The isolation of inmates, prison’s second purpose, exists to protect the public. Rehabilitation is currently the third purpose of prison. Rehabilitation is considered successful when a prisoner does n...
For decades, prison has been signified as an unspeakably horrifying place for those who have done harm to our society. Nevertheless, in today 's society, shows like Wentworth, orange is the new black and prison break illustrate prison in an entertaining way. A way that is so detached from reality. However, in the article "Norway 's Ideal Prison," by Piers Hernu, he clearly reveals and gives us a vivid picture of what prison life is like in Bastoy, the home of Norway only prison. On the other hand, "The Prisoners Dilemma," by Stephan Chapman argues how in Islamic countries criminals are being cruelly handled and how flawed the American penal system is and needs to be adjusted. Even though there are many similarities in both articles on what
Prisons have dated back to the twentieth century when the United States had almost two million people confined in prisons or jails. Prisons have been a form of government punishment that has shaped our nation to what it is today. The first jail was established in Philadelphia, in 1970. It was called the Walnut Street Jail and was recorded as the first use of imprisonment through solitary confinement. The basic principles of the new system were to reform those in prison, and to segregate those according to age, sex, and type of offenses charged against them (Schoenherr). The second prison was called Sing-Sing a...
Imagine. You are alone with your thoughts. There is nothing that can separate you from their unpredictable horrors because you spend 23 hours a day completely alone. In silence you wait, desperate for a chance to leave the four-walled, concrete cell you now call home. These are the conditions of solitary confinement that are still in widespread use throughout America today. Although solitary confinement may seem like the safest way to protect other prisoners, guards and even the inmate himself, it is an inhumane and cruel punishment and it has the opposite effect of what prisons are intended for. .
...t of people who return back to a law breaking mentality after they get released from prison. When you release people instead use these alternatives versus confinement it is less of a waste of expensive resources, taxpayer’s money, as well as time. A medium between control and treatment needs to be met in all of the prisons, or jails. Some men or women need more strict conditions and supervision practices while others may just need more of the services that should be offered such as rehabilitation, and alcohol or drug prevention. Any of these options will not be easy nor diminish this overcrowding issue quickly. It will take time, patience, and cooperation with both the inmates or ex-offenders family, friends, courts as well as law enforcement and jails.
Although, some prisons do have some rehabilitation programs for the inmates that need it, the therapy sometimes does not help. More than half of prisoners reoffend within at least three years of leaving prisons. Those who reoffend tend to have more severe and more aggressive offenses than previously. A man by the name of Brandy Lee has shown that by having a very strict program in prisons with violent offenders in San Francisco jails reduced the amount of violence in jails. The program also helped to reduce the rate of violent re-offences after leaving the jail by over 50
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).
There are several fundamental problems within America’s penal system. First, the name “penal” system indicates that the main focus is punishment. Punishment is meant to “teach them a lesson,” i.e. deter the convicts from future crime. Reasonable or unreasonable, punishment often results in the punished resenting and holding negative feelings for the punisher. If society is the punisher, inmates will not be motivated to go back into the general populace as a valued and productive member of society. Furthermore, prison has been commonly known to be both a training ground for more sophisticated crime as well as psychologically hardening nonviolent or innocent inmates that were falsely accused.
Herman, Peter G., Ed. The American Prison System. n.p.: The H. W. Wilson Company, 2001. Print.
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
America locks up five times more of its' population than any other nation in the world. Due to prison overcrowding, prisoners are currently sleeping on floors, in tents, in converted broom closets and gymnasiums, or even in double or triple bunks in cells, which were designed for one inmate. Why is this happening? The U.S. Judicial System has become so succumbed to the ideal that Imprisonment is the most visibly form of punishment. The current structure of this system is failing terribly. To take people, strip them of their possessions and privacy, expose them to violence on a daily basis, restrict their quality of life to a 5x7ft cell, and deprive them of any meaning to live. This scenario is a standard form of punishment for violent offenders, although not suitable for nonviolent offenders.
Shelden, R. G. (1999). The Prison Industrial Complex. Retrieved November 16, 2013, from www.populist.com: http://www.populist.com/99.11.prison.html
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
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.
For many years, there have been a huge debate on the ideal of reform versus punishment. Many of these debates consist of the treatment and conditioning of individuals serving time in prison. Should prison facilities be a place solely to derogate freewill and punish prisoners as a design ideology of deterrence? Should prison facilities be design for rehabilitation and conditioning, aim to educate prisoners to integrate back into society.