Prisons and the Causes of Recidivism of Inmates - Research Paper Example

? Prisons and the Causes of Recidivism of Inmates al Affiliation Statistics shows that the number of people in prisons is alarming. Worse still, the rate of re-offending among ex-prisons has also been overwhelming despite the correctional measures of combating criminal activities. Recidivism, which refers to the re-offending or repeat of antisocial, aggressive, violence, or criminal behavior, is a key problem in the society which not only affects families, communities, but also public safety. The high rates of recidivism in the society demonstrate the challenges encountered in transition from prison life back to the society. The rate of ex-offenders finding their way back to the prisons is alarming. This is due to a combination of factors which is related to but not limited to the prison conditions, lack of education programs, effects of imprisonment, discrimination, and psychopath among other factors. Prisoners find it difficult to adjust to normal society life due to poor educational, social, psychological, and financial position. The unwillingness of the society and family members to understand the needs of the ex-prisoners, welcome them to the society, and support them to lead a successful life are main factors contributing to recidivism. The current strategies for reducing crime in the society are not effective and should be blamed for the increase of recidivism. This research paper will explore the causes of recidivism among prisoners. Prisons and the Causes of Recidivism of Inmates Introduction Recidivism refers to recurring or repeating undesirable behaviors despite of the earlier experienced negative consequences. Recidivism is an important issue of study, which entails analysis of the factors resulting to its development. This scenario is very common among inmates in prisons. Despite the treatment, punishment, and training of inmates to extinguish the bad behaviors, they usually adopt it again. Recidivism is also used to mean the number of prisoners being rearrested for similar offenses. Recidivism is used in conjunction with substance abuse and criminal behavior. Scientific literature at times refers recidivism of sexual offenders as the frequency with which they are detected or apprehended for committing the undesirable behaviors after release from prison. Criminal recidivism is attributed to psychopath. In this case, psychopath is uninhibited gratification in aggressive impulses, sexual acts or criminal acts. Recidivism among prisoners can also be attributed to the inability to learn from previous mistakes. Inmates or people who demonstrate recidivism gain satisfaction through antisocial behavior as well as lack of remorse from the actions. For an action among an inmate to be counted as recidivism, the repetition of the undesirable actions calls for disclosure of arrest or conviction. This research paper will discuss and analyze the issue of prisons and the causes of recidivism. Prisons and the Causes of Recidivism of Inmates The modern criminal justice system takes imprisonment as a form of sanction from antisocial behavior. Imprisonment has of the years grown as a key tool for incapacitation and deterrence from criminal activities. Empirical literature on crime and punishment has concentrated on deterrent as the main approach to reducing criminal activity. Nevertheless, there is raising concern on the number of repetitive crimes. Many prisoners are going back to criminal activities after their release. Literature on prisons and recidivism has offered diverse knowledge on the causes of recidivism among prisoners. For the sake of policy, it is essential to understand how prison conditions influences recidivism. For instance, some researchers have argued that changing the conditions of prisons may be relatively less costly and easier than interventions. There are different punitive situations and conditions such as health services, overcrowding, and social activities which influence inmates to seek satisfaction through crime (Kelly, 1990). Theoretically, the prison conditions are very punitive and undesirable. Despite that the punitive prison conditions are necessary for deterring criminal behavior; they have instead influenced prisoners to engage in more crime. In different prison sentence and prison conditions, the inmates may be influenced to propensity in criminal activities. The high rate of recidivism in prisons can be attributed to the dehumanizing conditions inmates face. Addressing and seeking remedies for the prison conditions is an effective way of addressing recidivism. The prevailing conditions in many prisons are dehumanizing and tend to alienate prisoners from the real world. In many cases, prisoners are usually alienated and upon release they find themselves unable to conform to the social constructs and the rule of law. Many people who have not conceptualized the real situation of prison life will not easily cope with the inmates after their release. This scenario leads to discrimination and further alienation of the released inmates, thus influencing them to crime (Bailey, 2007). Due to the bad experiences in the punitive prison conditions, many prisoners will engage in more crime after they are released. After leaving prison conditions, inmates are unable to cope in the social setting. Many prisoners leave the prison life without full preparation on how to deal with the structures of a non-penal society. This is a key factor which leads them to re-offending. Of great concern is the issue of prison life which is characterized by violence and rape. The general prison life is dehumanizing and dominated by antisocial behaviors. The issues of violence and rape are rampant. Both in female and male prisons, incidents of rape, sexual assault and violence are the nature of the day. Most of the general society members are desensitized from the happenings in prisons. Many people don’t really understand what it means to the victimized inmate. The fact is that prison violence and rape occurs in a major scale throughout the world. Prison rape and violence has serious emotional impacts on the victims as well as the victimizers. Based on these encounters, many inmates find it difficult to fit in the society after serving their jail terms (Bailey, 2007). Sexual assault and rape in prison is almost unimaginably brutal and vicious. In most cases, these dehumanizing acts entails gang assaults, whereby the victims are left bloody, beaten, and in extreme cases or dead. This leads to serious psychological trauma to both the victim and victimizer. These are the same rapes and assault the common society members imagine and condemn. From another perspective, recidivism among prisoners also arises from other forms of torture. For instance, prison predators find and subdue their victims through procurement of sexual subjugation or threats of violence. Prison predators also get their victims through bargaining drugs, protection for sexual favors, and money. In these situations, the victims are forced to agree to the act or be subjected to a fight or rape. This is serious violation to basic human rights, which the inmates encounter. As a result of these inhumane experiences, the inmates are traumatized. These experiences force them to repeat the antisocial behaviors to other people after release. The prisoners also see these actions as the normal life of assault, rape, and violence, thus advancing the same to others (Struckman-Johnson et al, 1996). The prison conditions are full of coercion and dehumanizing experiences. The inmates are mostly coerced to engage in antisocial behaviors, which traumatize them. In the actions coercion and violence in prisons have serious psychological impacts on the victims. In most cases, the victims are tricked into owing a favor. This may include drugs or sexual favors. The perpetrator of actions in prison crime is seen by the victim as a fellow. With time, the victims are called upon to repay the joints right away. Since the victim may have no money or drugs to pay, he forced to offer sexual favors. Once the prisoner is out of prisoner, he/she will definitely engage in such behavior. This coercion type crime continues after prison since the victims will see it as part of the day to day life (Kelly, 1990). Predatory behaviors in prisons are a major factor to recidivism. Since many victims of prison violence and sexual assault are lured and coerced to engage in the antisocial behaviors, they learn the same and apply it on other people. These behaviors are not exclusive to men’s prisons but also to women prisons. Women in prisons suffer rape and sexual assault on constant basis. This is not only at the hands of fellow inmates but also by the prison guards. The issue of staff sexual misconduct is overwhelming across the globe, whereby prison guards seek sexual favors from inmates. The female inmates are subjected to different forms of indignities such as watching inmates undress, observing them in toilets, showers, performing inappropriate and unnecessary body searches, and even undertaking sexual extortion and rape. These actions are traumatizing and impact negatively on the inmates. These actions not only have physical effects like transmission of HIV/AIDS but also lead to serious psychological effects. These effects persist even after the prisoners are released (Leon et al, 1997). The traumatizing experiences of inmates in prisons affect their entire life even after release if not adequately addressed. The victims of prisons violence and sexual assault harbors great anger which is manifested in a cycle of violence directed towards the victimizer. Prisoners will project their anger to prison officials who regard the crimes with indifference and to the society as a whole. In the event of male rape in prisons, this anger coupled with emasculation and acute shame experienced by the victim leads to increasingly violent behavior and depression. The experiences of inmates in prisons are not praise worthy and lead to learned violence. This behavior continues the circle of harm even after prison life. It is important noting that recidivism among prisoners is an element of psychological effects of the traumatizing experiences. Many prisoners will suppress their feelings of range until after release. The survivors of these crimes may engage in more violent, aggressive and antisocial behaviors. In assertion of their masculinity and release of anger, ex-prisoners will commission violence and rape to others thus increasing recidivism (Kethineni & Falcone, 2007). The undesirable culture of drugs, rape, and violence in prisons overwhelm prisoners and manifest itself even after release. The culture of violence and sexual exploitation tends to dehumanize the victims and predators. Perpetrators of violence and sexual assault in prisons develop emotional immunity to the suffering they inflict to the victims. This immunity continues even after release from the prisons. On the other hand, the victims assumer such behaviors are tolerated in the society due to the disregard they are given by the prison staff. This scenario makes the perpetrators and the victims to tolerate and accept such behavior. As the inmates are released from prison, they place a lesser value to the lives and dignity of other people as well as themselves. This is a reason regarding the high rates of recidivism among prisoners and ex-prisoners (Murphy et al, 1986). Alongside the traumatizing experiences of sexual violence, prisoners also experience constant threat of physical violence. Many prisoners are physically assaulted year after year. The physical assaults in conjunction with the sexual violence contribute to a culture of violence and fear. Prisoners take this behavior as acceptable in the society and manifest it in their day to day life. Physical and sexual violence has dehumanizing effects on inmates, which influence the inmates to re-offend. This scenario explains the high levels of recidivism among inmates. The dehumanizing and traumatizing experiences on day to day basis make the inmates see it as an acceptable culture (Mauer & Chesney-Lind, 2002). Education is a major factor contributing to recidivism among prisoners and ex-prisoners. The typical offender is usually unemployed, uneducated, and living in poverty before incarceration. In this regard, education plays a key role in influencing recidivism. Successful rehabilitation and determent from crime can not be attained without proper education. Lack of education is what leads to recidivism among many incarcerated felons. Despite the proven correlation between education and rehabilitation, there is still under utilization of educational to transform prisoners. There is a strong correlation between under-education and criminal activity. Many offenders will simply re-engage in criminal activity due to lack of education. Many prisons have underutilized educational and vocational programs. This underutilization of education contributes to the high recidivism rates (Petersilia, 2001). Correctional education is usually underutilized in many prison systems. Despite the much literature supporting the effectiveness of education in transforming criminals, prisons have been reluctant. The use of education in transforming inmates has been shown to be successful in reducing recidivism. Many inmates who have been offered adequate education while in prison have been adequately transformed and embraced acceptable behaviors. This is contrary to the behaviors of many inmates who have not been adequately educated on changing their behaviors. Research has shown that inmates who attend school programs while incarcerated are 29% less likely to engage in crime after release. This is a clear indication that education plays a crucial role in reduction of recidivism. The laxity of many prisons and justice system to embrace education and vocational programs is a main cause of recidivism. Education is a fundamental factor in the reduction of crime and improvement of employment of ex-offenders. Investment in correction education programs has been shown to be an informed and wife public policy (Benda, 2013). Many prisoners re-offend due to lack of education. Lack of education on the seriousness of crimes and the need for admirable behavior causes prisoners to re-offend. Many prisoners are not offered knowledge on how to condemn the culture of violence or sexual exploitation. This can be blamed to the prison staff who only sit and watch the mess in prisons. Ex-felons will more likely re-offend due to lack of awareness on the need for transformation. On the other hand, lack of vocational training and education on self sustenance also influence recidivism. Sine most offenders lack education and employment, prisons should offer adequate vocational programs. Failures by many prisons to provide vocational training comprise to recidivism. This is because, ex-prisoners will engage in crime again so as to earn a living. The main challenge facing education in prisons is the low number of inmates who are in a position to take part in educational and vocational programs. This makes it impossible for the prison staff to sufficiently address all educational needs of the inmates (Rosen et al, 2009). Many adult and juvenile correctional facilities have been blamed for taking full advantage of education. The failure of prisons to make use of education in transforming and rehabilitating inmates contributes to recidivism. Many inmates spend most of the time in punitive activities and little or no time in class. If education was to be made available for all inmates in the time of their incarceration, they would be fully transformed and become useful members of the society. This is usually not the case since many inmates leave prison facilities with no additional or vocational training. By the time many prisoners are released, they are left unskilled and undereducated. This leaves them with limited options to support their livelihoods. In this desperate situation, many ex-prisoners will most likely engage in activities which had land them into prison (Mauer & Chesney-Lind, 2002). Adult and juvenile correctional facilities do not offer sufficient educational class. With the absence of basic adult and juvenile education programs, inmates are left in a very compromising situation. What is clear is that education and vocational programs impacts positively in the rehabilitation of inmates. Despite that many prisons have class and educational programs; they do little to actively encourage the inmates to attend classes. It is the duty of prison staff to motivate and inspire the inmates to fully engage in educational programs. Failures to educate prisoners leave them in a desperate situation with no adequate skills for the workplace. Their self esteem is also left in a deteriorating situation. Due to the lack of adequate skills and knowledge, ex-prisoners return to the society with very low esteem. This is in addition to the time wasted and the feeling of being invaluable members of the society due to lack of adequate education. With this in mind, the ex-prisoners will re-engage in the same antisocial behaviors which led to their imprisonment (Gardner and Anderson, 2010). The prison conditions are to blame for the high rates of recidivism. Many prisoners are release with lack of adequate knowledge and skills of dealing with the outside world. A typical offender will basically leave the prison with no savings, very few employment opportunities, and no entitlement to unemployment benefits. This is a compromising situation in which the ex-prisoners leave the prison with. Most adult ex-prisoners will in this case find it difficult to adapt in the society, thus seek to engage in more crime. The poor tolerance and acceptability of ex-prisoners in the society lead to discrimination and alienation. This will affect both adult and juvenile ex-prisoners who will feel detached from the society. As a result, these ex-prisoners will resolve to anti-social behaviors (Ramdhan and Bissessar, 2011). The issue of illiteracy and education has for years been assumed in correctional facilities. Many prisoners have been shown to have high levels of illiteracy. This is because most of them engaged in crime due to lack of proper employment and education as well as school dropouts. Since this educational gap is not bridged during the incarceration period, the ex-prisoners will re-offend for their survival. Lack of basic educational qualifications makes ex-prisoners unable to fill a job application. This limits their opportunities and respect in the society, thus inducing them to engage in violence and other undesirable behaviors. At the time of their release, many prisoners are in a very desperate situation. They have no savings or additional vocational skills. Many prisoners are released with only small amount of cash or just bus ticket. This is dehumanizing and makes them vulnerable to re-offending (Benda, 2013). The high levels of isolation and inability to sustain their lives forces them back to crime. Adult ex-prisoners are expected to choose the place to live, buy basic goods and services and search for their own job. Since this is usually difficult based on their desperate situation, they opt to venture in crime. The lack of transitional case managers leave the prisoners as their only guardian of their lives. This is very challenging based on the low tolerance of the society, thus making the life of e-prisoners difficult. Due to the lack of adequate tools to build a successful life, lack of mentors, and the high stress in trying to make ends meet, many ex-prisoners will most likely resort to crime. Prisoners can not smoothly integrate into the society without basic education, acceptance by the society, support, and job opportunities. This is a major cause of recidivism among prisoners and ex-prisoners across the world (Minor, et al, 2007). The strategies used by the society in combating crime have proven ineffective. For years, the methods of combating crime have been by getting tough in order to deter crime and transform prisoners. This has however been ineffective in combating criminal activity and is the reason behind the high level of recidivism. Many offenders are entering correction systems with more problems than prisoners of previous years. The challenges facing the society and the prisons are increasing day by day. There is increase in child abuse, spread of infectious diseases, family violence, lack of community resources, and homelessness. Combination of these factors has made it difficult to effectively address the problems facing inmates. Both the prison system and the society have been overwhelming by the dynamics of crime. These circumstances have compromised rehabilitation process of offenders. Due to the many forms of crime and incompetence of prison systems to combat crime, incarceration has been turned to a normal state of living. The normalcy of prison life is by itself an impediment of socialization and is ineffective in dealing with crime deterrent. This scenario leads to high levels of crime rates as well as victimization when offenders are released from prison. The harsher sentencing and un-welcoming nature of the society hardens the offenders to seek satisfaction in antisocial behavior, thus increasing recidivism (Blackburn & Houston, 2006). The longer prison sentences as well as the harsher prison environment make it difficult for ex-prisoners to adjust back to the society. It is more difficult even for ex-prisoners to secure a job. This scenario further contributes to alienation and discrimination from family members and the community. Many offenders experience long-term effects of prisonization which is not only dehumanizing but also traumatizing. Prison socialization which is dominated by a culture of violence, drugs, bulling, and sexual exploitation is adopted by many offenders. While in prison, many offenders embrace the culture of violence, become hostile to staff members, and experience high rage based on aggressive treatment. The long imprisonization effects lead to anxiety, depression, and mental breakdowns. The serious abuses and victimization of inmates led to solitary confinement for bad behavior which leads to re-offending. The abuses and torture subjected to inmates make them bitterer towards the society and contribute to recidivism (Minor, et al, 2007). Conclusion Research has shown that high percentage of inmates will be re-incarcerated after their first release. Despite the measures to combat crime through punitive correction facilities, many offenders have shown immunity to punishment and tolerance to criminal behavior. As observed in the research, there are many factors leading to recidivism among prisoners. The dehumanizing, traumatizing, and harsh prison life leads to psychological stress, depression, and anxiety among prisoners which make it difficult for them to cope with the society. Psychopath is also a key factor contributing to recidivism among prisoners. This is influenced by prison socialization and the culture of violence and antisocial behavior. Lack of education and vocational programs make it difficult for ex-prisoners to adjust in the society thus leading to recidivism. Recidivism among prisoners can be attributed to the long term effects of imprisonment which leads to stress, anxiety and alienation from the society. 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