Our prison system is clearly flawed. We send too many people to jail, which are ineffective at punishing, and rehabilitating our inmates. There are also many controversies surrounding the use of private prison, and the treatment of prisoners.
Fortunately, there is bipartisan support for improving prison conditions to a certain extent. Both Democrats and Republicans agree so, which is why the overwhelming majority of Congress recently voted to pass the First Step Act, which implemented new policies such as restricting the use of restraints on pregnant women, expanding compassionate release for terminally ill patients, and mandating de-escalation training for correctional officers and employees. All of these are positive and helpful changes, but are not enough to have dramatic effect on our prison system. While the First Step Act was a good start, more must be done
Moreover, a less-discussed issue is recidivism. Recidivism, in this context, is the act of a previously convicted criminal committing another crime, even after being released from prison. According to a study done in 2005 by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, within three years, 67.8% of released prisoners were rearrested. Although this study is 14 years old, the numbers have mostly likely not change drastically since. This means that America’s prisons are failing at its primary purpose of disincentivizing committing crimes. However, the recidivism rate is not so high because our prisons are not tough and harsh enough; in fact, it is the opposite. People go in to prisons as hardened criminals and leave prison as hardened criminals.
One big reason why so many former prisoners go back to crime is because that have not been reintegrated into society and have little hope and opportunity to turn their lives around. Besides the fact that people don’t want to hire ex-convicts, those that leave jail have little education, skills, and job experience to get employed. As a result, they lose hope and turn back to their old ways in order to make something of themselves. Around 40% of prisoners do not have a high school education, which means that 40% have a very small chance of getting a job. What we should do is provide education to these prisoners so that they can at least have the minimum that is needed to succeed.
Although there are already programs that educate prisoners, they are not nearly as extensive and widespread as they should be. We should be investing more in prisons, but we should be investing in the education of prisoners.
These programs do work. According to a study done by the RAND Corporation, inmates that receive correctional educational programs have a 23% lower odds of recidivating than those that do not. Expanding educational programs in prison is probably the best thing we can do to lower the chances of recidivism.
Another major issue with our prison system is the use of private prisons. The idea of private prison is inherently immoral. They keep prisoners in exchange for money and profit. Their prison population has increased dramatically compared to government run prisons. Fortunately, only around 8 percent of our inmates are housed in private prisons. Supporters of them often claim that they are cheaper, but ignore the human cost. Private prisons often cut cost in necessary services and people. Prison guards are paid less, and poorly trained in comparison to public prisons. This means they have less experience and knowledge on how to deal with bad situations and de-escalate them. Inmates in private prisons often receive poorer medical care. The growth of the private prison industry has also impacted our sentencing laws. As corporations, they use lobbyist and campaign contributions to get legislators to pass tougher and long punishments for crimes so they can keep prisoners for longer, which means more money for them. Private prisons need to be banned and turned over to the state. Only the government should be involved in the justice system and prison system, not private corporations that are only interested in profit.
We need to transform our prison and criminal justice system so that it really can make a change in people’s lives. In order to still the cycle of crime, we don’t prisons that only worsen and deteriorate that moral compass of its inmates, but ones that actually can turned criminals into decent and good people who have the skills and desire to contribute to society.
Article by Justin Lafontaine of Walter Johnson High School
Graphic by Nicole Fang of Richard Montgomery High School