By Aleshia Satterthwaite
Prisoners should ask themselves the question when walking in the doors of prison. Should I walk the path of rehabilitation or not walk the path of rehabilitation. The justice system in America has changed over the centuries. We have gone from the 1800s using the guillotines and hanging a criminal for petty theft to so-called “rehabilitation” of criminals. Our prison systems are flawed and have failed to prevent prisoner from becoming repeat offenders. I do not blame the prison system for the offenders actions that cause their returning to a life of crime, that is a chose that individual made. Repeat offenders became comfortable in prison, which is why they do not hesitate to return to jail. However I do fault the system for not developing programs in the prison that humanly teach prisoners how to enter back into society. Some prisoners sadly may never be able to function in society. There norm is the behavior they learn in the prison system, which is not accepted in society.
Some have left the prisons with knowledge of how to become a smarter criminal. Their peers have taught them how not to be caught the next time they commit a crime. I do not think prisoners should have a choice how they spend their time in prison. I feel a prisoner should have to work hard educating themselves and walk the right path. They should not just be sitting waiting for their time to end. Prisoners that exit American jails have very little chance of starting a new life after serving time. There are no jobs, and sometimes they do not have the support of family members. Society has already labeled ex-offenders as untrusted. That is why some prisoners do not look forward to leaving jail.
America must to do a better job assisting inmates to walk the correct path by developing programs that are mandatory to pass in order to make parole. Some individuals do not want to be rehabilitated, they rather be institutionalized.
Society and government should play an important role in preventing recidivist. Prison system should not be blame solely for the frequent occurrence of recidivist. Some citizens may have been a first become a first time offender of such simple crime as an assault, but when released finding it difficult to find a job. Businesses do not take the time to investigate an applicant criminal record when they apply for a job instead they reject the applicant of that job with felony with no other consideration. As a result of these rejection, one have to provide for his or her family and themself. These citizens look for other means to provide such as hustlers (drugs dealers), theives and thus when caught would become a recidivist. Some would argue that prisoners when release can start a business, but what if they dont have the capital it takes.Others would argue that capital punishment should be imposed in order to prevent recidivist. I will suggest that there should be a mandetory law in prison for inmates to learn a skill and to read. Though these implicatation would cause tax payers it will to some degree of preventing recidivist. One solution to help inmates in prison and society from high rising crime rate is businesses that makes parts such car parts like breaks should bring some of there job into prison for inmates to work on this will enable them to have a skill. Government and society should come together in order to prevent future recidivist. There also should be mandetory law to prevent employers from not hiring applicant due to past conviction. Employersmay suggest they are trying to protect their workers and the business but other measurement can put in place to prevent future crimes.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that there should be better programs in place inside the prison system to help rehabilitate these people, I don't agree with the idea that these prisoners should not be allowed to choose what they do with their time while imprisoned.
ReplyDeletePlaying Devil's Advocate here, not eveyr person in the prison system is necessarily guilty of the crimes they've been charged with. Some people just have a bad wrap or were in the wrong place at the wrong time and couldn't find enough evidence to prove thier innocence. It's because of these people (few as they may be) that it wouldn't really be right to not allow prisoners any sort of free will or choice at all as to what they DO with thier time locked up.
While that wasn't really the point of your entire blog post, it still stood out as a very close minded statement. Some people really do just want to wait out their time until they're able to get back into society, many try to rehabilitate themselves, but society isn't exactly welcoming them back when they return either.
The prison systems can be helpful, complicated, degrading, etc. I strongly believe that too many states are spending entirely too much money on the prison systems. For example, increasing college tuition by thousands of dollars for students and using the money towards building more systems for criminals with minor and major crimes. However, the criminals that have been in the system for many years now have received a G.E.D, learned how to read, also learn how to build thing from hand. There are a number of prisoners that even changed their behavior around. There is a never ending cycle with inmates returning to prison because they don’t know how to survive in the out side world. I am very confused on how I feel about the prison system in this modern day society. I believe this is an interesting topic to write and even talk about.
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