3. INMATES EDUCATION FROM ECONOMY PERSPECTIVES
3.1 How Prison Education Can Save Taxpayers Money It’s been a controversial issue on the criminal justice field whether or not educational programs should be offered to inmates in jail. According to experts, education is a key to successful reentry into society that most recidivism are lacking. Considering the importance of education for inmates, on the Februay 16, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, announced his plan to create a state-funded college education programs for inmates. This program is estimated to cost only $5.000 per inmate each year and with the offer of bachelor’s degrees at 10 state prisons. However, many are opposed with this Cuomo’s plan. While Cuomo believed that
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In other words, it’s a return of $1.66 for every taxpayer dollar invested annd $3.53 for every dollar invested in inmates who completed their degrees. This research lead to one statement, which is Education for inmates helps the states to save a lot of money. As the Prison Education Programs are likely to reduce the recidivism rate to the tune of 43 percent, this lead to less money is being spent on housing prisoners which cost around $60.000 per …show more content…
The prison population includes many individuals have been poorly served by society. They have, in many cases, suffered the consequences of broken families, inadequate schools, racial discrimination, and physical or sexual abuse. For these men and women, the opportunity to obtain a college education while incarcerated may be the first glimmer of hope that they can escape the cycles of poverty and violence that have dominated their lives. To offer this hope makes educational program for inmates more than a means of saving taxpayer dollars, although it will surely do that as well. It becomes a second chance that, if successful, can work to better both the formerly incarcerated person and the society in which he or she
Prison education is a policy that enables education to incarcerated folks. The meaning and purpose of this policy is to increase the education to thus who are in the system, behind bars. By allowing inmates to enroll and continue their education, this policy has the potential to reduce the recidivism rate in the United States. Flores Forbes claims the recidivism rate in his book, Invisible Men, “Today the recidivism rate is around 65 percent. We
In the essay, Reflection From a Life Behind Bars: Build Colleges, Not Prisons, the author James Gilligan was a director of mental health for the Massachusetts prison system, and he argues that prisons should be torn down and become boarding schools for the inmates to receive as much education as they want. He explains how kids who experience violence, grow up as violent adults, and he questioned why we continue to use violence against adults hoping it stops them from being violent. There’s evidence that the most successful programs for preventing recidivism are ones where inmates receive college degrees. The prisons are also extremely inhumane in the environment, as Gilligan compares them to zoos. All these reasons Gilligan gives for his argument
Over the past 40 years U.S. incarceration has grown at an extraordinary rate, with the United States’ prison population increasing from 320,000 inmates in 1980 to nearly 2.3 million inmates in 2013. The growth in prison population is in part due to society’s shift toward tough on crime policies including determinate sentencing, truth-in-sentencing laws, and mandatory minimums. These tough on crime policies resulted in more individuals committing less serious crimes being sentenced to serve time and longer prison sentences. The 1970s-1980s: The War on Drugs and Changes in Sentencing Policy Incarceration rates did rise above 140 persons imprisoned per 100,000 of the population until the mid 1970s.
The public school to prison pipeline was examined in the literature review through zero-tolerance policies and the effects it has played on graduation rates. Zero-tolerance policies have dramatically increased students being recommended to the court system according to the literature review. The literature review has shown a need for school districts to examine zero-tolerance policies and the negative effects that it has caused on students. Fran Silverman (2005) discusses students being punished under zero-tolerance and says, “The students were disciplined under their school’s zero tolerance policy and some advocates are saying these codes of conduct have become so strict that schools are turning into criminal justice systems, or worse, jailhouses” (pg. 54).
The money that is spent on prisons and the prisoners could benefit the citizens of America in another way. The amount of money that comes from taxes alone could help build houses for those in need, help pay off student loans or even give money back to the hard working Americans. “The total cost of Colorado’s prisons—to incarcerate an average daily population of 19,958—was therefore $606.2 million, of which 3.5 percent were costs outside the corrections budget” (Vera 1). This money goes to items such as televisions, health care, beds, luxury items, hot meals, coffee, and cigarettes. The list goes on although prisoners were put into jail because they are harmful to society.
Thesis: It is very important for the sake of Americans tax dollars that we change the way that prisons are run and increase the productivity of inmates so when they are released from jail they are ready to be a productive member in society and have the confidence to achieve new goals. Introduction: Day after day, millions of inmates sit in jail doing nothing productive with their lives. We are paying to house inmates that may not even have a good reason to be there. For example, drug offenders are being kept with murderers and other violent offenders.
A common concern for people would have to be what is the cost of building a prison? Nevertheless, the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prison has double the last decade to pay for the cost of prisons, which they raised two billion dollars. Thus, the rise of incarceration causes for more prisons, and government seems to have no problem with funding for more prisons. The prison-industrial complex is a term coined from the infamous military-industrial complex--a name that originated during World War II, referring to the enormous amounts of money spent and made in the name of building the biggest war machine ever assembled (Hartman, 2000). This makes the prison industry in the second fastest growing industry in the
Does it make sense to lock up 2.4 million people on any given day, giving the U.S the highest incarceration rate in the world. More people are going to jail, this implies that people are taken to prison everyday for many facilities and many go for no reason. People go to jail and get treated the worst way as possible. This is a reason why the prison system needs to be changed. Inmates need to be treated better.
Competence obsoletes over time; in order to help rehabilitate inmates, 350 college degree programs were once provided in prisons all over the State. However, by 2005, the number has shrunk down to 12 programs in 12 prisons. Prison jobs and educational training have a waiting list of more than 10,000 people. Prisoners are unable to regain their life by better equipping themselves in time of custody due to the fact that the government fails to deliver education to inmates. This is what ‘institutionalization’ from Shawshank’s Redemption is about.
Learning the significance in regards towards the criminal justice system, and noticing certain aspects and turning points made me realize just how important it is to continue to progress and overcome over every situation we may come across in our life. Both concepts of the books acknowledge the hardships that inmates face and provides many positive examples of how individuals overcame them. As for Mr. Smith Goes to Prison Jeff Smith discussed prison reform and his own personal experience in the prison system he had experienced. Jeff Smith's lifetime of advocacy and civil service make him perfectly suited to write this insightful and damning account of our Criminal Justice System.
Schooling within prisons helps reduce the amount of violence so well known in prisons. This creates a more safe and more comfortable environment for prison staff and prisoners. Schooling would also decrease our unemployment rate. In the United States alone we lose $60 billion for what could have been made by formerly incarcerated people if they were able to obtain jobs easier. Having an education would improve self-esteem, social skills, and involvement in their communities.
Those who find themselves sentenced to time in a penitentiary, jail, or prison are at risk of either being broken or strengthened by the time they spend behind bars. There is a great debate of whether or not the prison system in the United States is positive or negative. The following will briefly highlight the positives, negatives, and possible alternatives for our nation's prison system. First, there is a long list of negatives that the prison system in America brings. The prison system is filled with crime, hate, and negativity almost as much as the free world is.
Implications for this book include Santos’s desire to help fix the prison system and the mass incarceration issue the U.S is facing. Santos is also helping other that are being prosecuted by the failing system. Upon being released and piecing his life back together, Santos started his own foundation called the Michael G Santos foundation. Through this foundation, Santos is helping bring awareness to the socials issues that result from mass incarceration while also helping former prisoner transition and integrate successfully back into the work force. Through Santos’s hard work and commitment, Santos successfully helped Maine’s department of corrections enhance their prison system by the virtue of his own programs that he has developed post
Angela Davis in her book, Are Prisons Obsolete?, argues for the overall abolishment of prisons. Amongst the significant claims that support Davis’ argument for abolition, the inadequacy of prison reforms stands out as the most compelling. Reform movements truthfully only seek to slightly improve prison conditions, however, reform protocols are eventually placed unevenly between women and men. Additionally, while some feminist women considered the crusade to implement separate prisons for women and men as progressive, this reform movement proved faulty as female convicts increasingly became sexually assaulted. Following the theme of ineffectiveness, the reform movement that advocated for a female approach to punishment only succeeded in strengthening
Additional studies and reports show education programs cut recidivism by 30 percent or more nationally and cut recidivism more than in half in several large states (Esperian 2010). These results support the argument that “it is far more profitable for states to fund education classes for inmates,” because “doing so reduces recidivism dramatically, and because