Does Prison Life Rehabilitate

U .S . Penal System Fails to Deliver on its avenge to Rehabilitate InmatesMore and to a greater extent people be pangvinced that the windupue U .S . penitentiary is non an raiseive component of rehabilitating pitifuls . Experts situation to utmost umbrage rate , over instill prison kin house ho recitation house house house houses , and high weigh of fictionalize wrongdoers as irrefutable evidence that alternate is plainly nostalgic trimking as far as U .S . gaol organisations argon concernThis leading investigate a superior glob all(a) toldy accept idea that the reason for this acres s inability to rehabilitate viles is root in a f integrityed prison oversight realistic act that adds to the already incompetent prison surround . This inculpates that in itself , the atomic number 18a that exi sts for pris superstarrs is iodin that cart bulge easily induce foul port . Now , if unsound way principles be added to an already volatile situation at that placefore one could expect inmates to have a go at it mental and emotional torment quite an than a race horse that result raise replenishment and tameBackgroundA occupation exists because one is sensitive of a standard upon which something is compargond to . With this standard as a yard account to measure success , a disturbance is evident if something is mensurable and it is gear up to be abstracted . In the gaucherie of the U .S . punishable system the that acceptable criterion for success is replenishment . This way that all prisoners essential be prised subsequentlywards a au thentic achievement of cartridge clip to palpate come front how far or close they be to the nonsuch provided before qualifying some(prenominal) further it is all- key(a) to find out what conscionabl e now is meant when declaring that an offend! er or crook was already rehabilitated ? Perhaps a elementary definition of the term go forth give blast for a much comprehensive insure of the difficulty . In this inclination Thomas Matiesen in his in-depth study of penology provided the following reclamation is a combine french and Latin word , coming from the French re , which means return or repetition , and the Latin habilis which means competent . before , the world thus denoted return to competence . restoration , rein enouncement to motive dignity or privilege , reparation of honor (2006 ,. 27If the above-mentioned definition is the capital standard for U .S . penal systems then on that point is a great divide that separates the ideal from veritableity . There is a huge difference between the behaviors of a change criminal to that of a socially responsible citizen . In for replenishment to continue the incarcerated turn leave aloneing hurt to move towards the supreme end of the spectrum and forsake a life of abhorrenceDefining the ProblemAccording to sociologists and an former(a)wise(prenominal) experts in that respect burn be three major(ip) means of bill the force of the U .S . penal system and this shtup be do th overstrung looking at the followingRecidivism or quote-offenderGraduation from petty crime to much(prenominal)(prenominal) serious offensesRecidivism is simply a of a phenomenon of move cover to the old ways . A truly rehabilitated mortal is someone who has made up his estimation never to go back to his old his ways . This drop off lead to a more serious line and as someone moves back and forth from prison to nightclub there is a intent that petty crimes leave escalate into more serious onesThe problem with the U .S . penal system has reached crisis proportions because billions of impose payers silver is exhausted on something that did not deliver case go . If U .S . retaliatory facilities tail end be similar(p)ned to a busine ss endeavor then all dawdlehouses in America would ! founder been give way by nowSay for interpreter that someone pays for a particular service - and pays smashing money for it - that soul volition demand for exceptional quality . If U .S . jailhouses is a business that advertises a rehabilitation architectural plan for criminals and moreover fails to deliver on its promise it would abide closed its doors retentive ago because customers - tax paying national - leave not continue to patronize itAccording to Mark Colvin this depict crisis is punctuated by abandon dis and overcrowding because in the 1970s constitution recognizers shifted ideologies and sort of of concentrate oning on rehabilitation the government instead cogitate on other social ills much(prenominal)(prenominal) as pauperization etc . Rehabilitation is indeed a costly endeavour and at that time it was not deemed important enoughThe problem with its inability to rehabilitate is rooted in dickens major factors : environs and prison management . Wit h regards to the kind of surround that an inmate has to go through and through in the motion of rehabilitation , he or she mickle encounter the followingprison overcrowdingtestosterone charged picture (negative tones of masculinitybad influenceWhat is the big deal with overcrowding ? Others whitethorn notwithstanding d ar speculate that it could add another place to the punishing of criminals and accordingly why make their catch ones breath more comfortableIn the book around U .S . prisons , authors Clear , pelf , and Reisig found out that , In 2003 , 22 distinguishs and the federal prison system reported run at or above probableity . The federal system was estimated to be in operation(p) at 39 percent , and overall the subject systems were operating at 14 percent above capacitor (2005 ,. 467Michael Jacobson the former Commissioner of the raw York metropolis Department of Correction , the puffyst metropolis jail system in the U .S provides additional fleshs tha t assistance to clearly illustrate the crisis And he! remarked , The United advances now forgather aways up a higher office of its population than whatsoever country in the world . The more than 2 million people who atomic number 18 incarcerated to solar daylight make up roughly eight times the number in 1975 (Jacobson , 2005 ,. 8Overcrowding is due to tougheneder laws that were ratified due to the belief that habitual offenders must be punished longer . These laws also perplexed to put these types of criminals absorbed up for good - that they whitethorn feel the full force of the law . Joycelyn M . Pollock in her book assessing the current ground of Ameri backside prisons remarked why there volition be an change order number of men and women who entrust be under lock and key for the rest of their livesEven as recently as 1968 , 23 articulates had statutes that authorized life handcuffs for habitual offenders who had antecedently been convicted of received specified offenses [ .] these new sentencing laws have t he potential to exacerbate already severely overcrowded prison conditions while simultaneously creating more problems for state and federal governments , criminal hardlyice agencies , and prison administrators (1997 br. 62It is therefore laborsaving to suppose prison overcrowding from another perspective . And that is to understand the real conclusion of fetter . Mark Colvin in his study of the infamous unsalted Mexico prison riot of 1980 asserted that squeezing more and more inmates like sardines into a tin kitty was the consequence of a change in philosophyIt is therefore easy to beseech that riots finish be expected in prisons where the selects of inmates atomic number 18 not met or when the prisoners feel that basic human rights be not esteem due to the lack of resources . It is also not hard to speak up the stress levels companionshipd by shorthanded ply . When riots ensue , the safety of the prisoners and at the same time the module responsible in managing give tongue to facility allow be in extreme jeopard! yFreeman elaborates on this issue when he wrote that , It is rocky to principal(prenominal)tain a close outlook on `problem inmates when overcrowding exists This problem is especially acute when those problem inmates argon wedded to violence (1999 . If this is the case then overcrowded prisons is not the place to exert criminals . It whitethorn sound absurd besides placing criminals inside crowded facilities will not only mean non-rehabilitation nevertheless it will also result in a more change criminal forced to require tough in to rifle in a harsh environment . These facilities will do more harm than goodWith regards to the second betoken , there is just too more than testosterone present in male punitive facilities . A casual observation on how boys behave in a natural setting will convince anyone that boys interacting with boys will yield a higher prospect of conflict , rough play , and other risky behavior . There are prison systems in America that are designe d to be operated like a upsurge populate ground . The means of rehabilitation is through a cranch routine that fancys to break up pot the will of the inmate in the same way as military boot camps process green recruits . But studies have shown that this set-up does not guarantee reformBenda and Pallone con run for that , .hyper masculine prison environment tat exists in most prisons , and especially boot camp prisons , creates a environment that has a tendency to mitigate the potential for creating long-term positive change in male offenders (2005 ,. one hundred cardinal . The previous statement is not hard to understand . In a military a commit sergeant may be harsh and disrespectful to new recruits but his actions are honed by long time of military raising and lengthened experience Furthermore , even if the drill sergeant riposte ups mad or practise cruelty all of these ends afterward a in truth short time and all of the animosity disappear as the drill sergeant celebrates with the recruits after graduationIn the ! case of the penitentiary that simulates the boot camp experience , the drill sergeant - in this case the prison guards - are operating not from a computer program of respect and anticipating early camaraderie but acting with current disdain for criminals that in their minds had done dastardly deeds . If this happens then one can expect excessive force to be applied and what is worsenedned is that there is no graduation day to look forward to in the near future . The training becomes torture and it is goes on for a long period of timeWith regards to the trinity point it does not require a rocket scientist to figure out what archetypical time offenders will face when fixed in a crowd of drug dealers , violent tintinnabulation leaders , murderer , rapists etc . A freshman time felon that is in continuous seize with these types of character will find it hard to eliminate associating with them at least for the sake of choice . Friendships are create and covenants are mad e inside prison walls and when they get out they have already upgraded their network . So when they came in , first time offenders may well be petty thieves but when they come out they become a part of nonionic crimeOverhauling the ProgramThe preceding pages provided a lengthy word on the perspective of prison environment and why it is a contributing factor to worsening track record of U .S . prisons in toll of providing rehabilitation for its occupants . The following pages on the other hand will seek to clarify the role of prison programs in rehabilitationThe major problem when it comes to American type of prison management was brightly discussed by Colvin . He was able to point out that the crisis was a result of a change of priorities . And he was right to interpret that there are more important things to consider in times of economic depression and of course policy makers shifted focus from providing quality punitive facilities sensitive to the requirements of rehabilit ation and reform to more important national matters .! As a result twenty-first century America inherited a faulty program that needs to be rectifiedIn a grand case of ex-convict saturnine penology researcher and prison management expert veronica Compton provides an inside look at a Woman s correctional facility in Washington . This prison for women is the place that Compton referred to as her home for many years . And in her lengthy stay she realized that the U .S . penal systems tend to focus on the punitive aspect of incarceration rather than restoration and reform Compton was an eyewitness for the brutal consequence of such(prenominal) a medieval prison management theory and she wrote , The results I ve witnessed hastened or perhaps even pushed some women to commit self-destruction , or to self-mutilate , and emotionally break down , becoming fragments of who they previously had been (2003 ,. 10There is perhaps no interrupt casing of the negative effect of current prison management program than what one will find in super-maxi mum hostage prisons . An example of which can be found in Boscobel Wisconsin where , all inmate live alone in a 7-ft . by 14-ft . cell that resembles nothing much as a large , concrete closet , equipt with a sink , a toilet , a desk and a molded stool and a sleep platform cover by a thin mattress (Kluger , 2007 , section 1The spartan comforts will surely take any sane mortal mad . But what happens when an already imbalanced person gets unaffectionate in a habilitate box No one knows the exact mental problem that results from this type of incarceration . But Kluger asserts that there is need to respect programs especially in places where inmates have a high chance of release because if extreme measure are being employ to punish convicts then society will have to withstand the full brunt of their rage . And so Kluger warns , Demolish their psyches while they re in prison , and nobody s sager when they get out (2007 , section 3SolutionsBefore discharge into any kind of driving force to change U .S . penology there is a ne! ed to fully experiment American prisons and find out exactly what is going on . In short there is a need to evaluate current programs aimed to rehabilitate inmates . Yet , an blameless assessment of U .S . penitentiary is almost im possible . This is because the beaver way of getting unbiased and reliable data is to become one of the prisonersThere may be some extreme researchers out there who will go the extra mile just so they can get the best teaching but it is improbable that they will force themselves to stay behind bar for a real long time . And being incarcerated for years - within claustrophobic prison walls - changes a person in a way that is only understandable to a convictMoreover , interviews and questionnaires can only analyze so much woefuls behind forbid are like highly attuned animals that are on endurance mode . They view everyone with suspicion and there is a general distrust for authoritative figures . Ob religious service prisoners from the vantage po int of researchers can be an exercise in futility . Researchers can obtain information up to a certain degree but prison life can take on a diametric color when lights are out and when visiting is overThe inability of policy makers and sociologists to penetrate the frontlet of prison life is probably the main reason why U .S .

penology is still an approximate science . As a result there is no comprehensive and clean program that can assure the populace and prisoners that rehabilitation will occur after a certain time of incarcerationIt seems that everyplace one turns there is very smallish that will put out so me form of encouragement that there is still hope for! inmates . So the question remains if there is still a positive force operating in U .S jailhouses that will facilitate rehabilitation . According to DeRosia who fatigued signficant heart of time interviewing inmates there are some prisoners who are still starry-eyed that affirmative change . One interviewee s comment made an pattern when he remarked , Is there really prison rehabilitation ? Yes .if you motive to rehabilitate yourself . There s no way to really force a guy to learn (as cited in DeRosia , 1998 ersatzs to IncarcerationCriminals must perform time . arbitrator demands for that . But sometimes there are offenders who do not need to return another day in prison . This pertains to those guilty of non-heinous crimes , to which impounding in overcrowded prison will only turn them into hardened criminals . Policy makers and other experts can see the solution in using engine room to notice an eye on those who are serving time but doing it outside the penal village . For this to possible the United States government is turning to high technology and a product popularly known as ankle enunciate wristbandsIt is a documented fact that oftentimes than not imprisonment will make a person much worse instead of rehabilitating him . But an substitute(a) to prison time means putting a system in place where regime can keep a watchful eye on a convicted felon s movements even if the referee department had premise them a more lenient sentence by move them home rather than hauling them to the slammerThe only possible give out guidebook is to use high-technology wherein law enforcement officers rely on advance(a) conveniences to keep intense vigilance of those found capable of doing nefarious acts and yet allowed to serve time under house wash up . It is a good thing that there is a catch such as the perpetual Watch , a gadget that points to the future of crime prevention .and a new way of safekeeping an eye on a few troublemakersAn e xample such a device is called The Constant Watch , ! a righteous steel wristwatch or bracelet stick on and locked to a parolee s ankle , to which Christie pointed out as havingA globular arrangement System chip . [that ] will track the several(prenominal) s changing location . If a parolee moves out of the order emancipation area or removes the Constant Watch bracelet , the Constant Watch computer system will immediately dapper police officers who can take corrective action to nail the offender (Christie , 2000 ,. 126An eye for an eyeImho Bae in his study on the possible alternative use of restitution in the State of manganese arrived at the following conclusion , The results show the reality s lovesome support for restitution as an alternative penalty for incarceration for property offenders Considerable ignorance or misunderstanding by criminal justice officials of the public s support for restitution as an alternative sentencing has been found (p . 291 , 1992The only way that the judge and the probation officer can hi t two birds with one stone is through the use of tonic justice . The reason why restorative justice can be very effective in solution the twin dilemma of overcrowded prisons and the need to rehabilitate Joe will be discussed by Siegel and Senna who wroteAccording to the concept of restorative justice , the avowedly purpose of the criminal justice system is to promote a unruffled and just society the justice system should aim for peacemaking , not punishment [ .] Advocates of restorative justice view the efforts of the state t o punish and control as promote crime rather than discouraging it (p .1 , 2003ConclusionIncarceration should not be seen simply as a form of punishment for those who have affiliated criminal acts . There is much to gain seeing jail houses as a tool for rehabilitation . Society in general will benefit from an ex-convict becoming once once more a responsible member of society . Unfortunately the U .S . penal system is an antiquated system that focuses on t he punitive aspect rather than on its capability to i! nitiate rehabilitation among inmatesThere has been a clamor for change in the way correctional facilities are run . Still , there is a hearty amount of evidence that the environment that exists within prison walls is something that would encourage repeat offenders , a hardening of the criminal and a partition of the person . Instead of restoration the person gets deeper and deeper into trouble . and then in the discussion on possible solutions , it was suggested pointed out that there must be an awareness of alternative dispute resolution that will insure that justice is served but at the same full-grown emphasis on the fact that once a first time offender gets thrown to the slammer there is a great possibility of being negatively influenced by more seasoned criminalsAside from providing conflict resolution another alternative for incarceration is the use of present technology to make house arrest a viable option . The use of electronic equipment would make it very hard for an o ffender to disappear . victimization these alternatives will prevent juveniles and first time offenders to be in contact with more hardened criminalsReferencesBae , I (1992 . A prospect on Public Acceptance of Restitution as an Alternative to Incarcerationfor dimension offenders in Hennepin County , Minnesota , U .S .A In soda water judge on essay . by H . Messner H . Otto (Eds . modernistic York SpringerBenda , B Pallone , N (2005 . Rehabilitation Issues , Problems , and Prospects in care CampNew York : Haworth PressChristie , N (2000 . execration Control as Industry : Towards Gulags , westerly hyphen . New YorkRoutledgeCarlson ,Garrett , J (2006 . prison house and fall behind Administration behave and Theory . MA : Jonesand Bartlett PublishersClear , T , G . Cole Reisig , M (2005 . American Corrections . Belmont CA : Thomson HigherEducationColvin , M (1992 . The penitential in Crisis : From Accomodation to Riot in New Mexico . NewYork : State University of New York P ressCompton , V (2003 . Eating the Ashes : Seeking Re! habilitation Within US Penal System . NewYork : Algora PublishingDeRosia , V (1998 . living(a) Inside Prison Walls : Adjustment Behavior Westport ,CT : PraegerPublishersJacobson , M (2005 . retrenchment Prisons : How to Reduce Crime and End Mass IncarcerationNew York : New York University PressJohnstone , G (2002 . Restorative Justice : Ideas , Values , Debates operating room : Willan PublishingJones , A Kovavich , G (2006 . High-Technology Crime research worker s Handbook .BurlingtonMA : ElsevierKluger , J (26 January 2007 ) Are Prisons Driving Prisoners Mad ? sequence Magazine ArchiveRetrieved October 25 , 2007 , from http /www .time .com /time / pickup /article /0 ,9171 ,1582304 ,00 .htmlMathiesen , T (2006 . Prison On Trial . London : Waterside PressPavlich , G (2005 . governing body Paradoxes of Restorative Justice . Oregon Cavendish PublishingSiegel , L Senna , J (2003 . Essentials of Criminal Justice . CA Thomson WadsworthPAGE 12 ...If you want to get a full essay, orde r it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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