The Relevance of Prisons in the American Justice System - Essay Example

Running Head: Prison Life US Prison Life and an Inmate’s Reintroduction to Society By: October 18, 2009 Introduction The deplorable incidents at Abu Ghraib a few years ago gave us all a glimpse of what happens in American prisons. While the details of the abuse are not fit to print here, the most accurate thing that can be said is that the Iraqi prisoners were dehumanized in a manner comparable to what happened in the Nazi death camps. The disturbing part comes in that this can also serve as a look into what happens in prisons all over the States, where inmates are subjected to physical and psychological abuse. For the most part, prison officials are apathetic to, or worse, actively and gleefully abuse the prisoners supposedly under their care. With these facts in mind, this research seeks, among other things, to further look into the daily happenings at a typical American prison. And more importantly, it also seeks to address the need to prevent recidivism and to reintegrate offenders into society. The Relevance of Prisons in the American Justice System In his book “Crime and Punishment in America” (1998), Elliott Currie tells us that the American approach to violent crime is out of balance and just plain wrong. Despite America’s heavy reliance on jails and prisons as deterrents to crime, at that point in time, it still held the worst level for violence among the developed countries. The idea of America being soft on crime, he says, is a myth. Whatever some may argue, the fact is that crime’s response to punishment is unpredictable. He goes on to quote John DiIulio, who explains that the money spent to put a criminal behind bars prevents two or three more from committing crime. Also, according to James Wilson, despite the expense involved in maintaining prisons, the benefits, in terms of crimes avoided, far outweigh the cost. The problem is that, even after 25 years as of his writing (and in fact, even to this very day), the vast amount of cash spent on prisons has done little to make violent crime respond consistently. And despite this, the American public still insists on the effectiveness of the penitentiary system. As an example, Currie cites the female inmates sentenced on the most minor of offenses, such as drug charges or property crimes connected to such dependencies – and how their imprisonment has left multitudes of children parentless. In this case the system fails to account for the greater costs involved: substitute care, welfare dependency, and even possible delinquency and/or drug addiction. Another more direct example is how the lack of serious vocational training in most prisons leads inmates to leave it even more ill-prepared for the heightening demands of the labor force. As the time spent in jail will no doubt have cut into their already-marginal income, the public is then forced to care for them through social services. In addition, the government loses additional taxes and productivity that would have been gained, had they been better educated. Or worse, these ex-inmates could lapse into recidivism – that is, they could commit repeat offenses and start the cycle all over again. Prison, states Currie, varies from person to person. It makes sense to lock up a serial killer or known child molester, for example, but practically none for petty criminals, especially those of the minorities – on whom a large chunk of prison expenses go to. A Look Into US Prisons: What Are They Like? In one of his songs, released posthumously in 1997, the late gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur (who, it should be noted, himself went to prison at least once on charges of sexual abuse) describes prison life from the eyes of a juvenile delinquent on death row – abused by the police and the prison staff and forced to witness acts of depravity including, among other things, prison rape. He further describes how the American government has seemingly little love for the minorities, especially African-Americans. Since by definition, gangsta rappers come from the minorities the government supposedly looks down upon (especially the African-American community on which the current prison system has the most impact), it stands to reason that they would know best how their communities are treated, having first hand experience. And coupled with what happened at Abu Ghraib, there is little if any reason to disbelieve Tupac’s tales. On their website hrw.org, an article by the Human Rights Watch (2004) supports such allegations. In 1999, for example, a Texan judge lamented the sadism and the malicious violence prevalent in Texan prisons. And more recently, it says, inmates have been subjected to beatings, sustaining grave psychological and emotional scars in the process. Both male and female inmates could be raped at any time, whether by the staff or their fellows. Some of them even die as the result of such abuse. According to the HRW, the climate that persists in US prisons allows abuse to be committed. More sickeningly, even children are not exempt from such abuse. For instance, an incident occurred at a youth facility in Maryland wherein a child was mauled by four guards. And in January 2004, it came to the Department of Justice’s attention that children were being physically and sexually abused in Arizona’s juvenile detention centers. According to the HRW, most abusive officers are highly confident they can get away with their questionable behavior. It does not help, then, that the press, human rights groups and general public are kept in the dark as to what goes on in prisons. It is rare that independent experts yield public findings in the course of their inspections. And even then, it usually comes too late for the inmates concerned. Should the American public become fully aware of what goes on in prison cells, a public outcry for justice will probably ensue. Indeed, it should say quite a bit that President Barack Obama condemned the previous administration’s practices, and vowed to make things right. And since he has now been successfully elected into the American presidency, says Jeff Rock (2009), it remains to be seen whether he can follow through on that vow. Recidivism and Programs to Counter It The fact is that an ex-inmate’s reintegration into society is anything but simple. According to Success for life: evidence-based programming to prevent recidivism (2005), it is highly likely that ex-offenders return to prison, with approximately two-thirds being rearrested within the first three years of their release (Stravinskas, 2009) – this phenomenon is called recidivism. This is definitely a problem for the American government, considering that the resources are limited and that, as it is, facilities nationwide are operating well over capacity. The problem is that, while we expect ex-offenders to have been reformed by their jail time, the related policies do not seem to agree. Much focus is placed on punishment and on sentence reforms, but little is given to the part which matters more: rehabilitation. As stated in the previous pages of this research, abuse is rampant in America’s prisons and correctional facilities; those responsible for such abuse do so presumably because they see the inmates as needing further punishment. But the flaw of this reasoning is that the mere fact that they are there in the first place is their punishment. Ideally, the prison staff would serve as role models for their inmates and treat them well – sadly, though, such is not the case. That, according to the American public, is where the correctional justice system falls flat: that it is unwilling to adequately and properly groom soon-to-be-ex-inmates for their eventual return to society. As a result, individuals who have had every reason to get their lives into proper order end up serving another jail term instead. Among other things, the key to reducing recidivism lies in such programs as education, employment, and substance abuse treatment (McKean & Ransford, 2004) – most likely in that order, depending on the classification and risk assessment of the prisoner involved (Austin & Hardyman, 2004). Most petty crimes are committed because criminals are denied access to legal means of income. Thus, proper education can give them the knowledge and skills they need to be employed, and the information they need to avoid getting in to substance abuse – which, as noted in From prison to home: the dimensions & consequences of proper reentry (Travis, Solomon & Waul, 2001), is a common factor among 80% of the state prison population. Rehabilitation and Reintegration Programs in Prisons They need to be assisted with regard to improving their status in life – which, in most cases, is the reason they committed crimes and went to jail in the first place. More specifically, the government should implement more effective programs to rehabilitate them and then reintegrate them into the community; otherwise, the recidivism rate will never improve. And in the long run, this becomes an unnecessary expense on everyone’s part. While rehabilitation programs have been proven to be an immense help in preparing inmates for release, these programs are ironically the first to suffer when it comes to cost-cutting. It is truly a pity that this is the case, since it has been proven that jobs in America being created faster than they are filled. Someone languishing in a prison cell could instead be making an honest living at an office or a factory. Being able to land a stable job greatly helps in preventing a former inmate from committing repeat offenses, as having a legitimate means of income diminishes and/or eliminates the need to commit crime. This can also be compared to dealing with disobedient children. If a parent merely punishes the child with no reason given, sooner or later the offense will be repeated. But if the parent explains to his child that what he did was wrong, why it was wrong, and gives an incentive (or at least emphasizes the beneficial side-effects of) for proper behavior, the child will be less inclined to commit repeat offenses. In particular, the Michigan Prisoner’s ReEntry Initiative, or MPRI (2006), is a comprehensive rehabilitation program aimed at guiding inmates on a personal basis and equipping them with skills necessary for their eventual release. Under this plan, they will be watched closely throughout their sentence and well into their return to society. It aims to assess a prisoner’s circumstances, make sure that he will be in a good condition upon release, and to keep him out of trouble. Under such a plan, nothing is standardized; the approach will vary from prisoner to prisoner. All in all, the government has nothing to lose and everything to gain by improving rehabilitation programs for inmates. More inmates successfully readjusting to society translates to more people in the workforce, who will contribute to America’s economy and ultimately benefit everyone involved in the long run. Protecting the Public from Recidivism At the same time, though, the concerns and fears of the public about ex-prisoners are not entirely baseless. They had, after all, committed a crime that got them jailed, and may still have lingering criminal urges. Thus, measures are needed to protect the general public should these individuals relapse into criminal activity. A frequently mentioned solution is to closely monitor the ex-inmate after his release. This may seem to be a no-brainer, but there are states in which former prisoners are no longer accounted for after release. For instance, according to Anne Morrison Piehl (2004), in Massachusetts, only ¼ of all released inmates released in 1999 were supervised further – a stark contrast to the year 1980, where most if not all prisoners were subject to supervision by the Parole Board. Neither the Probation Department nor the Department of Correction can say how many former prisoners are still being monitored. Post-release supervision is absolutely essential, seeing how it helps the inmate himself; as he evidently has difficulty living in normal society, having a group of concerned individuals guiding him would help immensely. If such measures are taken, it will be highly unlikely that newly released inmates would ever relapse back into crime. Recommendation: Making Sure Ex-Inmates Stay Out of Jail A state taking care of its citizens is very much like a parent’s bond with his child: even if the child goes astray, the parent is bound to love and care for him unconditionally. At the same time, he must do his utmost to prevent the child from committing the same offense in the future. But for this to be possible, he must ensure that the conditions are decent; that is, they must not be the circumstances that make it possible for the child to go astray at all. A parent who allows his child to keep bad company is just asking for trouble. In the same way, America must care for each and every one of its citizens equally. In particular, the minorities need this most, especially the African-Americans who have been neglected since time immemorial and who, according to Facts about the prison system in the United States (2007), comprise more than half of those incarcerated in American prisons. As stated in the previous pages, education is the key to preventing recidivism. However, this researcher would like to add that education is the key to preventing crime in the first place; yes, it is true that educating an inmate will reduce the likelihood of recidivism. But more importantly, education will prevent an individual from resorting to illegal means to get by. It stands to reason that, had the drug dealers in jail been able to sell something other than drugs, they would have. Hence, rather than eliminating crime, more focus should be placed on eliminating conditions that give rise to it. If we get rid of the rats, more rats will just come eventually. But if we get rid of what attracts the rats, they will never bother us again. References Austin, J. & Hardyman, P. (2004, July) Objective prison classification: a guide for correctional agencies, Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://www.nicic.org/ Currie, E. (1998) Prison myths: Crime and punishment in America: 37-67, Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/ Facts about the prison system in the United States (2007, October) Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://webb.senate.gov/pdf/prisonstwopager.html Piehl, A.M. (2004) From cell to street: a plan to supervise inmates after release: Crime & public safety, Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://www.massinc.org/ McKean, L. & Ransford, C. (2004, August) Current strategies for reducing recidivism, Retrieved October 18, 2009, from www.impactresearch.org/ Michigan Prisoner ReEntry Initiative (2006, February) State of Michigan Prisoner abuse: how different are US prisons? (2004, May) Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://www.hrw.org/ Rock, J. (2009, May) Obama doesn’t trust US justice system, Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://www.opednews.com/ Shakur, T. (1997) 16 on death row, Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://www.azlyrics.com/ Stravinskas, S. (2009) Lower crime rates and prisoner recidivism, Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/ Success for life: evidence-based programming to prevent recidivism. (2005) Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://www.mtctrains.com/ Travis, J., Solomon, A. & Waul, M. (2001, June) From prison to home: the dimensions and consequences of prisoner reentry, The Urban Institute Read More