Purpose Of Prison Essay

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What should be the purpose of Prison? In the United States there has been a long controversy about what the purpose of prison is. Some say the purpose of prison is for rehabilitation, while others say the purpose is to punish and discourage crimes. Despite what some might say the clear purpose of prison is to punish people and discourage crime. Felons who go to prison have committed serious crimes and should not just be held in a cell for a while but instead punished for crimes committed. In general, prisons should punish the convicts because if not what 's the point of prison, plus it is a terrible place to rehabilitate despite what others might say.
Firstly, Prisons should punish people because if the law was not enforced and prison wasn …show more content…

Secondly, prison is a terrible place to try and rehabilitate prisoners. Putting people in 6 by 8 foot concrete cell with armed guards yelling at them does not encourage people to rehabilitate, but would instead make anyone angrier. The google definition of rehabilitation “is the action of restoring someone to health or normal life through training and therapy after imprisonment, addiction, or illness.” which does not sound like modern prisons. The Bureau of Justice Statistics also posted that in 2005, 15 federal prisoners were killed and 13 inmates committed suicide. It is clear that prison did not restore those people to health and inmates are not returning to normal life. The Crime Museum posted online that “Unfortunately, research has consistently shown that time spent in prison does not successfully rehabilitate most inmates, and the majority of criminals return to a life of crime almost immediately.” This shows that rehabilitation did almost nothing for them! Another reason prison is not a good place to rehabilitate is because of the crime that happens inside of prisons. A blog called The Economist posted that “inmates of America’s overcrowded prisons can be a fearsome bunch, from murderers covered in tattoos to drug dealers wielding homemade knives. They readily beat each other up over minor disagreements." A place filled with criminals fighting and killing each other is not the ideal place to rehabilitate but instead promotes violence. Criminals mixed with criminals

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