are prisons truly correctional facilities?

Answer 1

It would appear from reports given by former inmates that in some instances, some people - not all - come out of the prison system better than they went in, but I do not believe it is the system that is responsible for the change.

People change when they come to a place in their lives where they realize they are in no-win situations or they want to do better; they have relatives (even a spouse or mate) who they want to see again and live a normal life with those persons. What I am saying is that people change when they are ready to change, not before and no one really succeeds in getting them to do so before they are ready.

Yes, there may be programs in place to assist them and I will not, in any way diminish their worth, not having had personal experience, but the individual is mainly responsible, if not solely so.

In part, I want to say that many times, there are gangs within the prison system who merely maintain their street-way-of-life within the prison walls and never do any better. If they ever do get out, it is to return to their former haunts. No one changes unless he or she truly wants to.

Answer 2

In my opinion, now-a-days, prisons are nothing more than overcrowded Holiday Inns for the scum of the earth to get a free room and board. Sure they can not go anywhere but they get cable tv, heating and air, recreational time, and loads of other great things. They are far from correctional institutes, they are more like a getaway. Our prison systems need to step up and start making these maggots pay for the garbage they do. Stop giving them all sorts of luxuries and lock them away in a window-less room, give them a plate of beans and bread, and let them think about the crimes they committed for the duration of their sentence.

Answer 3

Apparently not. If they were, the people leaving would be "corrected". There would not be as many repeat offenders. There would be no need for parole officers. If government felt these ex-inmates were "corrected" they would allow all of them the simple freedom of voting!! Some ex-inmates can't even be trusted enough to vote (per our government). To me, prisons are just equivalent to a time-out corner. You sit there and do your time for being "bad".

Answer 4

I have a feeling there are more programs available to inmates than you could possibly imagine. Take for consideration the California Department of Corrections has spent millions of dollars to just change it's name to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Think about letterhead, patches, uniforms, etc. Just to change the perception. There are many, many programs available for inmates. I support anybody that wants to turn their life around. The programs are there for them: Substance Abuse programs, education programs, vocational programs (welding, auto maint., auto paint, water treatment,electical, plumbing, etc etc etc). Now when you say "success rate" I gather you mean they don't come back to prison. Now let me ask you this. What do you want these programs to accomplish? Obviously the goal is to have them commit fewer crimes. Why do they commit crimes? Is it because they don't have opportunity? Of course they have opportunity. They simply chose to take the road of least resistance, which is to steal something from good americans. Or rob someone or somewhere. Or maybe they have anger issues. Maybe they have sex issues. Most likely it's drug issues (selling or using). Maybe they just don't care about other people. They have learned to take advantage of people. And they do so until they are caught. So how do you fix that with a program? Trust me when I say most of them don't give a crapola about your program. It's only a big fat pacifier until they get out. The reason I know this is the big fish feed on the smaller fish in prison. The nicer you are as an inmate, the weaker, and you are a big, fat target. So teaching them to be nice only makes them a target in their world, so are you helping them or hurting them? Let's talk about sex offenders. It would make your head spin to know the crimes these people have committed. They have ruined families-both their families and families of complete strangers. They have ruined childrens lives. I'm not judging, but think about it. So, how you rehabilitate that? With a feelgood program. Don't think so. It is a very, very large percentage of inmates in the prison system. It (sex offenses) effect more people in terms of population than any othe kind of crime because it destroys families. In the prison system, their commitment offense is kept a secret so they are not targeted. They cant let that happen because they are making the problem worse by feeding the bigger fish. So what program helps them? Sorry to be so cynnical, but our kids wont get the same help that inmates get. Our kids will have to pay for education, while an inmate can get a degree, for free. Good for him, but is that really fair? Our kids wont get the same access to medical care either. Billions have been put into the prison system health care system, but that doesn't help us any. They get the programs, and medical care because they committed crimes against good american people. So is that fair? If it worked, I'd say maybe its' fair, but the same inmates keep coming back because it's a way of life, and they don't know how to change because we as a country don't know how to change them. The prison system programs are great on the surface, and they help a small percentage. The prison system is turning into a system afraid of legal lawsuits because one inmate can sue and change an entire prison system. All of the prison systems biggest changes have occurred as result of a lawsuit because an inmate felt his rights were violated. Now tell me that's not ironic. If you want to improve it. Make it more difficult on them. Physical labor. No free time. Either they get involved in an academic/ vocational program, or they do hard labor. Screw the lawsuits. The courts committed them to prison, they need to stop granting thier whiney little lawsuits. Put them to work! Make them build more playgrounds! No TV, except PBS! That's how you do it my friend.

Answer 5

Yes man, atleast the experience in prison will stop him from commiting any crime.

Answer 6

No the electric chair is though

Answer 7

FOR SOME YES FOR OTHERS NO

Answer 8

Only as long as they're in it .