Summary: The Importance Of Post-Secondary Education In Prisons

He argues that privately contracted prisons reduce cost of corrections for federal and state budgets. Seiter explains how private and public corrections are not competitors but partners. Partners that “ are proud of the services they deliver and are committed to meeting the expectations of the taxpayer and public official responsible overseeing their work” (Seiter 419). Private prisons have the ability to buy the fundamental supplies, hire more staff to avoid overtime expense which lower the operating costs to run the prison and make more profit. Setier accurately states that over the past decade “ new growth in prison inmates is going to private prison” (419).

While incarcerated, Lerner went through some personal, more emotional changes in response to being imprisoned with the male inmates. From the time of Jimmy's arrival to the county jail until the time he was in the prison yard, a lot of personal development occurred. Being liable to defend one's self, Jimmy had dangerous encounters with dangerous inmates such as Hunger, a great in size alpha male who targeted Jimmy forced him to become more ruthless. Although Lerner had help from his buddies, Hunger transformed the mindset of Jimmy. When Jimmy and Kansas were first assigned cellmates Kansas gave him a few pointers in order to survive the prison lifestyle.

(Witkin 2) From there, Witkin begins to analyze the connection between the crime decrease and harsher prison sentencing and smarter policing (Witkin 2) As stated by Witkin, “Imprisonment...seems to be important, but not the underlying cause of the crime drop…” and while “...smarter policing was spectacularly decisive in some cities… it probably was not the key factor nationwide.” (Witkin 3-4).

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

Should Convicted Felons be Entitled to More Rights? Everyday thousands of individuals are incarcerated into the United States prison system. As soon as these jailed individuals start their term, they give up multiple rights they had prior to being convicted. Each convicted felon is treated the same regardless of the crime they committed and lose the same amount of rights. The amount of constitutional rights taken away from convicted felons should depend on the severity of their crime.

Recidivism costs the state of Florida more than $150 million annually (Florida Department of Corrections). A strong financial incentive is not the only thing bringing Florida legislators to the table however; electoral calculations also are a draw for the legislators. Reducing the amount of felons in Florida through education programs and through an improved rehabilitation system while cutting state prison spending is a platform that appeals to Democrats and Republicans alike. Legislators campaigning for re-election will be able to tout effective criminal justice reform as one of their accomplishments over their past term. When a task force studied recidivism for the state of Florida in 2004, it concluded that “the loss of civil rights upon conviction of a felony” (Miller and Spillane 405) was an element of Florida’s criminal justice system that needed to be reformed.

They point to statistics that show a decrease in crime rates in New York State since these laws were enacted. Additionally, they argue that the threat of longer prison terms deters some individuals from committing violent crimes in the first

Why the prison system is flawed The american prison system is flawed and should be changed because it is very expensive to keep it running the way it is, the prison system is helping gangs grow and it can be fixed it is possible. I believe that it needs to change so that cities will have more tax money to fix other things and the people who don't deserve to get released won't be. The prison system is very expensive for taxpayers because they have to pay to employ the officers, they have to pay for the building, the tools, the food for them to eat, there clothing and bedding.

People may say that prisoners must pay an unreasonable amount for cost to go get supplies in prisons or how that maybe prisoners can’t help support their families or pay doctor fees. In contradiction to this, those prisoners are already being cared for and they get all the necessities to live such as a good shelter, food and clean water. Duwane Engler, a former prison inmate who worked at a goat cheese farm within the prison says “When you're in prison, you have to work anyways. If you're in a maximum facility, you're going to do work... These guys actually get out, they have a purpose, and they make more than 60 cents a day.".

According to Phelps (2013), as from 1998 to 2007 states that had the greatest increases in incarceration rates failed to observe a corresponding drop in crime rates. On the other hands, states such as New York, Texas, New Jersey and North and South Carolina that lowered their incarceration rates in favor of community corrections programs experienced a drop in crime rates (p.53). Incarceration has also failed in correcting prisoners. Most of the prisoners always go back to committing crimes once released from prison. It has led to a rise in the recidivism rates of prisoners.

The government treats prisoners as if they are nothing in this world. The U.S prison system needs to be reformed by building new and better prisons and making it more humane and fair. Looking back to the prison history. Incarceration has not always been a common form of punishment. Back then people wanted to reform and change the way

Something will always need to be fixed in society because society is a reflection of us, and we are not perfect. Recently, there’s been many issues that have caught the attention of people living all across the world. Things such as police brutality, sexual assault in the workplace, and immigration law, just to name a few, but there’s also been an underlying issue that people are becoming more informed about, and that I believe matters - prison reform. Prison reform matters because in many instances, prisoners are treated inhumanely when they are locked up, and aren’t treated as humans when they have served their time. I believe we can bring about change in the prison system by changing the way we punish people who do commit crimes and focusing more on actual rehabilitation.

Is prison effective as rehabilitation for wrong-doers in the US? Shawshank’s Redemption, an all-time best movie produced in 1994 starred and led by actors Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. A story about two imprisoned men’s experience with the corrupted prison institution through their way of self-redemption. There is a line, which was well read by Morgan Freeman, I am particularly fond of. Here I quote ‘These walls are funny.

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 overall goal of the government is too, regulate prison systems and protect inmates/ prisoners. There is always room for improvement. Recently prison reform has been debated, as people are questioning the humane treatment of prisoners, and are curious here there tax dollars are going. The constitution covers various rights regarding prisoners to ensure their safety and wellbeing. The structure of all persons are controlled by the government, they run public, private, and state prisons.