Rehabilitation In The American Prison System

The high incarceration rate of Black Americans has pervasive and chronically negative stigmas regarding the social and economic vitality of the Black American community, such as a lack of democratic participation and violence within urban communities (Burris-Kitchen & Burris, 2011). According to Forman Jr. (2012), some of 5 the negative affects of systemic racism of Black Americans born into the hip-hop generation who have been convicted include the ineligibility of public assistance programs such as health care, food stamps, public housing, student loans, and some employment opportunities. Additionally, many of the individuals suffering from the stigma of incarceration come from backgrounds of disadvantage such as single parent homes, low

By restricting their daily schedule prisoners cannot restore their discipline in maintaining strong foundation to rebuild their mind or help them avoid psychology. Without these proper resources inmates minds will collapse to the point of insanity making the 8th amendment come into effect. To truly uphold justice the prison system main goal must be to focus on rehabilitation for all those in Supermax prisons and especially for those who suffer from mental illness. To be locked away for long durations of time or even life can severely create discord in the system. It is truly mayhem when individuals no longer control their own fates but must listen to the precise system that believes structure is the key to reforming someone, despite their freedom

However, the United States has one of the best rehabilitation techniques and facilities in the world. Rehabilitation is the aspect of the United States correctional system that keeps it from being completely looked down on. One of the main issues when it comes to the prison and correctional system is the living conditions, according to an article on “Kicker”,”How the prison system is failing”, the living conditions are described as poor and inhumane. These living conditions also lead to serious incapacitation, which means there is not enough space for newly convicted criminals to fit inside the prisons.

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.

Cody henry English 121 Professor Karle 22 October 2015 American prisons and Rehabilitation A prison is a place where people are held legally for punishment of a crime that they have been sentenced for. One of the goals of prisons should be the rehabilitation of prisoners. The United States is currently facing an overcrowding problem in there prison system (Rader). The American prison system has a poor approach to the rehabilitation of prisoners.

In the developing world, incarceration goes beyond the idea of applying a just punishment upon the offender for committing a criminal action or following a destructive behavior that disturb the public interest and the stability of the community. Incarceration also holds the responsibility to prepare the offender to integrate with the community after he goes out. This rehabilitation should be done on healthy bases that assure the mental health of the offender. With the increased rates of incarceration and long sentence in the US society, rehabilitation program comes as a need more than a right and moral thing to do.

In America currently there are about 2.3 million people that are incarcerated. The U.S. accounts

Prison reform has been an ongoing topic in the history of America, and has gone through many changes in America's past. Mixed feelings have been persevered on the status of implementing these prison reform programs, with little getting done, and whether it is the right thing to do to help those who have committed a crime. Many criminal justice experts have viewed imprisonment as a way to improve oneself and maintain that people in prison come out changed for the better (encyclopedia.com, 2007). In the colonial days, American prisons were utilized to brutally punish individuals, creating a gruesome experience for the prisoners in an attempt to make them rectify their behavior and fear a return to prison (encyclopedia.com, 2007). This practice may have worked 200 years ago, but as the world has grown more complex, time has proven that fear alone does not prevent recidivism.

“Another justifiable aim of the criminal justice system is rehabilitation or reformation of character…’It was believed that once left alone with their conscience and the Bible, prisoners would engage in inner reflection, see the error of their ways and be reformed into law abiding citizens’ ”(“13 Most”).

51% of all prisoners released are returned to the prison system and nearly 30% are returned within the first six months of their release (Pinard, 2006). Roughly two-thirds of all prisoners are rearrested within three years (Pinard, 2006). The high rates of incarceration and recidivism have reinvigorated debate about the purpose of the prison. The time is ripe to debate prison reform. "America 's penal system needs a top-to-bottom overhaul - and a movement of people ready to do something about it is taking shape nicely" (McCarthy,

Prison Problems in the U.S. The United States have the biggest incarceration rate in the world. Our prisons are full of convicts, rapists, and murderers. One of our biggest problems are is that we don't have enough money too feed them and keep a roof over their heads. Another issue is the proportion of middle aged men in our country are either black or hispanic. It causes issues because colored people think white people (esspecially white police officers) are racist. There has been a lot of police brutality toward colored people yet white people have to endure that too, we are all equal. The U.S. needs to ensure officers aren't being to violent yet keep it so we know we are safe. Another conflict is prison violence,

Worsening the problem, as the increase in the incarceration of individuals continues, the sense of rehabilitation for inmates has been heavily reduced. This is not just by chance, but rather because the capitalistic private prison industry does not view incarcerated individuals as

First you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That 's institutionalized.’ A prison should aim at retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation. I am very well convinced that prison has served its first three purposes by depriving offenders’ freedom, but the

With the failure of the rehabilitation programs, the United States had to turn to the retribution model of punishment. Also at the turn of the decade into the 80’s, The War on Drugs kick started the epidemic of prison overcrowding, and launched America into a downward plunge of economic and political turmoil. The mandatory minimum sentencing policy that was in place did not help the situation either, giving long incarceration sentences to prisoners who didn’t deserve it. Criminals were given the minimum sentences for crimes, and judges carried them out precisely. Race and poverty were also side contributors that contributed to the bigger picture of the issue.

The 19th century brought a change in the dynamic of the prison system. Public offense and shaming gave way to penitentiary to “prepare for life as law-abiding citizens.” This change is now clearly seen as the just move, extending dignity and a second chance to most inmates. However, there would be certain drawbacks, as were witnessed in later years. As John Esperian writes, correctional thinking always “reflects the ideas and values of the societies and governments which mandated it.”