In your opinion, do you think that prisons make offenders better or worse? Why?

Answer 1

There has been a lot of thought and theory that has gone into planning and running prisons. Certainly there are a lot of them and they vary widely in theory as well as in leadership. The people running the prison can really make all the difference, sometimes. I think that prisons, in general, probably do a little of both.

I have always been fascinated by the idea of Coventry or penal colonies. The idea here is that there is just a place where folks who don't want to live by society rules can go and they can make their own society. We don't have to clothe or feed them, they can make it on their own without the society they disregard. If they ever change their mind and want to come back, fine - but if they don't live by the rules a second time, off to Coventry they go again never to return.

This gives the criminal a real choice, is humane and costs tax payers very little. It also shows a criminal why it is important to have rules and laws that EVERYONE lives by - something I don't really think prisons can teach.

Peace!

Answer 2

Being someone who has been in jail, not a prison I can say that honestly it depends on the person. As for me I learned my lesson and have no desire to reoffend and go through that again. However there are people who for whatever reason do get out and commit the same crime time and again. I guess the only real answer is you would have to get to the heart of the person them selves. If a person is in a situation where they can reoffend the chances are pretty high. All prisons really do is make a truly good person, who did a wrong,learn his lesson, while keeping the bad people, who dont really care, out of socity for a little while. In essence prison really doesnt do a thing other than become a deterrant to those thinking about commiting a crime and keeping the real bad guys( murderers etc.) off the streets.

Answer 3

Definately worse. Ever talk to a prisoner? Many of them talk like they can do no wrong- which is hardly the case. Prisons just teach offenders new tricks. Rehabilitation doesn't exist. Its merely an excuse to justify release. I think a person who has comitted a crime is 90% more prone to commit another when they leave- in some cases for the sheer purpose of being put back in. Many don't know or want to know how to live on the outside.

Answer 4

I think it gets the offender off the street and makes some victims feels safer for a while. They rarely offer any real help to these people while in prison, and it is a whole other type of community where they have their own rules to live by, which is overlooked by wardens and guards.
A pedophile that does 17 years for child molest will really be tantalized when he see's those kids for the first time in years.
No better, maybe worse.

Answer 5

People tend to learn from each other. And if you put a bad person among other bad guys, then chances are that he will learn to be even more bad. Perhaps this is why criminals tend to progress from smaller crimes to bigger and bigger crimes.

Every time criminals go to prison, they become worse. And when they get out, they end up committing bigger crimes for which they go back to prison. It continues like that until the criminal either gets killed, or gets too old for this kind of life, or ends up in prison permanently.

Of course, you can find exceptions to every rule. But I think the overall tendency is that prisons make criminals worse than before.

Answer 6

Depends on the mantality I guess. What are they missing out on while in prson? Do they have family or friends that love and care about them? Depending on how much they have to lose by being in there and how long the sentence is it can either humble them or make them more agressive and clever about committing future crimes. Personally it wouldn't matter what prison did to their psychi because if I had my way, anyone who committed murder(niot in self defense)would be crammed into one huge closed off room with all the killers and left to slowly starve to death. Once everyone was dead, the bodies would be cremated, thus making more room for more "bodies". May sound cruel, but it would save us millions of dollars and keep us from building so many daman prisons due to overcrowing. As far as I'm concerned, once you take a life, you're no longer deserving of human treatment. Your'e a nothing, and a waste of space.

Answer 7

It depends on a lot of things. If the prison is no more than a country club with bars, they do no good. If it is an unpleasant experience they can do some good. However, as another wrriter said, the certainty of getting caught is a better deterent. I do not agree with many non-violent laws, feeling that victimless crimes should not be crimes. But, if a person has committed a violent crime they should be punished harshly then given an opportunity to rehabilitate themselves. The society cannot rehabilitate them, only the individual can do that.

Answer 8

It depends on the offender. Not everyone who goes to prison is a monster. But a lot of 'em come out that way!

Answer 9

This depend on the mindset of the individual, some come out of prison reformed, while others are hardened by this and become an even worse criminal.

Answer 10

this is just from my personal experience with convicts. I have a family member that was in maximum security for 8 years. He was out in Feb 05, he murdered 2 people in May 05. They become animals in there. I guess it is a survival of the fittest type of world in there. I don't see it as an excuse for his behavior by any means, and I do not defend him in any way, form or fashion. I just believe if they are put into that environment they must conform to it to survive, so yeah they become worse. He will spend the rest of his life with like souls.