Does prison work?

Question

OK so I have my own idea about this one! I work in a youth offending team and know the inside story after doing my undergrad dissertation on it. I'm very intesrested to know what others think before I divulge my facts. Please think about costs and community alternatives when you answer :-)

Answer 1

Leonard, that is a very short-sighted view. the rate of ex-cons re-offending is very high. Prison SHOULD be about punishment but also about rehabilitation, otherwise we're just hiding the problem temporarily

Answer 2

I say if you have a person on tape committing a serious crime and the evidence is irrefutable give them hard labor like the used to do to everyone. Put all prisoners on treadmills and let them power the city they are in, in shifts 24/7! Child molestors should never get out, period! And no death penalty for any reason! You can make people wish they were dead though. The government makes plenty of money off prisons or they wouldn't make so many things illegal to keep them at full capacity!

Answer 3

Violent Offenders should be incarcerated for their crimes. Non-violent offenders should be placed in a Community Correctional setting with work release. Bucks County, Pennsylvania was the first county in the United States to implement the work release program. Today it is one of the most successful work release programs in the US. They have to pay 30% rent and 30% restitution and court cost. If they owe child support it comes out of the other 40%, the rest is placed in savings. Guy Waller is the Work Release director and Harris Gubernik is the Director of Corrections for the Bucks County Correctional facility. You should call either one who will be more than happy to give you their insight on your topic.

Answer 4

I think our prison systems are too soft. Heck, most prisons provide better environments for some of these people...

We need to make prison a place no one wants to go. No more luxuries, no more play time.

If you get sent to prison, you work for the government. And I don't care if it's digging holes for no reason. Let's use prison labor to do the jobs that the illegal immigrants are doing, road repair, digging ditches, cleaning up trash, etc. And run it like a well-disciplined military school. This will teach them good work ethics...

If the prisoners are too violent to allow them out, then they get locked in a cell and never get let out. Either behave while working or stay in your cell.

Again, we need a prison system that is a place we all try to avoid....

Answer 5

Depends on the prison. If it's nothing but a warehouse to keep people off the streets, then when they get out they'll reoffend. If it has programs set up to deal with the mental processes that got them put there in the first place, as well as programs to give them a way to make a living once they get out, they're effective. In my observation(non-educated), most repeat offenders find prison life easier than street life, although they'd never admit it.

Answer 6

I think that you are looking for a considered arguement or discussion about the formative or corrective treatment undertaken by the prison system. That is an oft debated topic, and one's point of view may be subject to one's politics.

However, if you consider that there are a lot of violent people committing violent offences, and the public are concerned about being the subjects of violence, then just locking them up does a very great deal of good for the public perception, and we can all sleep easier in our beds as a result of prison, and to that extent it does work.

Sorry to mention this negative aspect of imprisonment.

If we had capital punishment, of course, then we might be able to send fewer people to prison.

Well, that deals with the violent crime, how about the socially deprived that we are hearing about when we question the size of the prison population? Do they need to be there?

Well, perhaps not, but exactly what do you think we should do about anti-social behaviour, and people who really do not want to be a part of a free society, that is to say, one in which we impose common standards of behaviour and respect for the person?

Are they a danger to our society that they need to be locked up?

Or do we just have to accept that their chosen pattern of (mis) behaviour is one that we all have to accept?

Answer 7

Yes, prisons work because they keep bad people out of the general population. They do not work as rehabilitation centers, as most criminals repeat their criminal behavior when they are released. I would like to see our policy towards those who use drugs be changed. It is folly to put these people in prison, we should instead sent them to drug rehab. We should also decriminalize the possession and use of marijuana.

Just recently a USC, in South Carolina, football recruit was arrested for marijuana possession. He was kicked off the team. This is stupid! People should be judged on their performance at their jobs or in the classroom. If they are able to function in our society while using drugs, it should be nobody else's business that they choose to use drugs.

Answer 8

Well, I've spent 3 years in an adult prison, and not as part of the staff. From my perspective, it does a great job of warehousing people. It does a HORRIBLE job of getting them ready to re-enter society. I have a ton of education and experience. I have my BSME from a major ACC university and my MBA, and I have 10 years of professional experience. The problem: I am more qualified (on paper) than 90% of the general public, yet I can't get a job to save my life.

(FYI - I have a non-violent drug charge.)

Answer 9

I believe the damage is done long before the offender is caught and sentenced. Education is the answer. Prison treats the symptom not the cause.

Answer 10

I think prison is too good these days. But then again I know someone in prison, and would hate for them to have horrible living conditions.

But I think there are different methods that should be used for less serious crimes anyway.