Correctional Institutes Do Not Correct or Rehabilitate Prisoners

The criminal justice system in America is a system designed to work in three distinct steps. The first being to fairly identify those breaking the law, second, create a process through which to both punish and rehabilitate criminals, and lastly integrate them back into society. The current system typically goes unquestioned, as those in the system seem to be deserving of what ever happens while they are in it, even once they have served their prison sentence. It is only upon deeper inspection that we begin to realize the discrimination and unfair tactics used to introduce certain groups of society into the criminal justice system and proceed to trap them there. This is the issue addressed in Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, and it is through arrests, sentencing and further upon release from jail that this oppressive system is created and maintained.

Prisons socially isolate criminals to deter interference with the rights and freedoms of other members of the society. Under this isolation, the criminals are given another chance to reform their mistakes and come back form where they have come from and they argue that reforming the sentencing system will increase the number of criminals in the society

Examination of the macro sociological perspective of incarceration and completed educational programs will confirm or oppose if rehabilitation on inmates can make a difference and create a safer environment for society. Inmate human development and socialization are critical and an affair of importance. Although, inmates are placed in unpleasant conditions the well being of the human mind must be taken into consideration to be mended and preserved. The prison system is known to be dangerous and a degrading environment leading prisoners to become resentful, hostile, and feeling hopelessness. Therefore, inmates could commit more crimes out of anger causing more danger to society.

We will discuss two models for inmate subculture: the deprivation model and the importation model. The Deprivation model suggests that “the prisoners suffer and get frustrated due to the absence of liberty, privacy, free access to goods and services, heterosexual relationships, autonomy and security” (Stojkovic, Stan & Lovell, 1998). This theory clearly says that inmate subculture is evident through the pains of imprisonment. While the importation model says that the subculture is evident because the prisoners are replicating the outside world. This model includes the prisoner-staff dynamic, 3 types of inmates, various racial groups within the prison population, type of offence, record of recidivism (re-offending), personality differences (prior to imprisonment), power of “politicians” (top of the inmate social hierarchy), work gangs, work groups, and sexual “deviation” which would directly affect inmate subculture. Both inmate subculture models comprise of a behavior code, a power hierarchy, an economic system for illicit goods and service distributions and “argot”

Today’s prisons do not effectively rehabilitate criminals, they are likely to reoffend and be incarcerated multiple times. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, “At least 95% of inmates in the U.S. state prisons will return to their communities upon release, and more than 66% will be rearrested within three years.” (Beyer 2). The majority of prisoners who are in the same environment both before and after they were arrested continue to break the law. If jails and prisons focused more on rehabilitating criminals rather than only punishment, this number is likely to decrease. Prisons in the United states are overcrowded. This became a legal issue in 2011, when the Supreme Court required a reduction in California’s prison population by over 40,000 inmates. (Beyer 1). Cramming too many prisoners together does not benefit any party in the correctional system, and it is likely to cause more issues between prisoners. This also puts the safety of prison guards and correctional officers in jeopardy, because physical altercations between prisoners are more likely to occur. 676 per 100,000 people in the United States are imprisoned, which is the largest incarceration rate in the world. (Beyer 2). This number could decrease with a prison system that focused on a prisoner’s need as an individual. This includes education, job preparedness, and a plan for life

Classical theory of labeling suggests that formal societal reaction to crime can be the cause of the development of one’s criminal career; however, modern theorists have predicted that several different processes cause the involvement of offenders in crime and deviance to increase. [1] Base on these theories, in recent years, the procedural and restorative justice approaches have been working on demolishing the stigma associated with offenders. Procedural justice is the process of making and implementing fair decisions, so parties involved in the matter can feel affirmed with the outcomes, [2] while Restorative justice is a

America’s “fear of crime” has developed an incarceration binge that has resulted in a disparity in America’s prisons, largely, affecting the underclass; dishonored groups caught in a symbiosis of the ghetto and prison, meaning, that ghettos have become more like prisons, and so undermined the inmate society, as such, turned prisons, more like ghettos; hence, developed a state wherein the criminal justice system is the instrument to control the poor (Wacquant, 2010). Inevitably, societal isolation, constraints the agency of the poor; their racial isolation develops environments, where residential instability, family disruption and economic inequality facilitate marginality, unequivocally deprecating poor minorities ' life chances. Largely, due to socioeconomic forces and manipulation of institutional arrangements by powerful elites, which in turn, perpetuate the inmate disparity. Thus, maintains the underclass caste, more succinctly, an American apartheid.

But I submit that such a philosophical foundation is flawed. Revenge while understandable from an individual human perspective is not a proper basis for society 's response to the misbehavior of its laws. This human urge to punish should be removed from the current system and replaced with methods of restrictions that utilize the offender 's potential to benefit his victim and society at large.

Durkheimian theory holds that racial discrimination and income inequality indirectly affect imprisonment through crime. This is grounded on the assumption that racial discrimination and/or lower socio-economic status that reduce legitimate economic opportunities, leads to criminal activity, which, leads to imprisonment. In contrast, conflict theory suggests that these variables have both direct and indirect effects. That is, racial composition and income inequality will have a significant effect on imprisonment when controlling for crime. This latter effect is attributed to the response of the economically and politically powerful to the real or perceived threat posed by culturally dissimilar groups (cultural conflict theory). The present study analyzes the existence and magnitudes of the direct and indirect effects of race and income inequality on the level of imprisonment. Other sociological theories suggest that when controlling for the level of serious crime, incarceration rates are directly affected by extra-legal factors. The Cultural Conflict and Neo-Marxist theories suggest

Kristin Briggs Professor Tashima Sociology 101 3 April 2015   Annotated Bibliography   1.) Introduction For my Annotated Bibliography I have chosen the subject of resocialization in prisons. Prisons are known to be total institutions, as prisoners are essentially cut off from society, and told what to do and when to do it. Upon entering a total institution such as a prison, you become surrounded by a totally different environment than you are used to.

The prison system often proves ineffective at reconditioning prisoners to free life due to the high potential of recidivation soon after release, the decrease in education and other programs in prisons, and the physical and emotional results of the conditions in which prisoners live. Although some may argue that the threat of a prison sentence deters potential criminals from pursuing a life of crime, the experience of prison may result in increased criminality, subverting the goal completely. Firstly, many prisoners recidivate, or reoffend, soon after release. Of released prisoners, “44 percent... were rearrested within one year and 68 percent were rearrested within 3 years” (Mears). Since nearly one half of prisoners committed another crime in one year after their release, the rate of recidivism indicates that the prisons fail to recondition inmates to free life. This may be due to the failure of rehabilitation programs offered in prisons; many recently released prisoners end up back in prison soon after release due to the limited reentry programs (Pager 2). Rehabilitation efforts in prison aim to reduce recidivism by changing a person's mindset from one of crime and criminality to one of compliance with laws and consideration for others; however they do not often accomplish this goal well, if at all. Rehabilitation efforts in prisons produce less positive effects than those offered in the community (Clear 132). The lack of results likely stems from the poor environment

Excluding the members of the staff, prisons consist of individuals who have broken society’s set of laws. Prisons serve as a way to implement social order in the community. Different kinds of strategies are put forward in order for the prisoners to abide by the rules and be ready to get back in society, causing no threat to the community. However, despite the rules which exist, Goffman argues that inmates still create their own culture within themselves. They adapt themselves to the rules implemented, almost as if they create their own community within their own. He mentions: “It was then and still is my belief that any group of persons – prisoners, primitives, pilots, or patients – develop a life of their own that becomes meaningful, reasonable, and normal once you get close to it […]”. Prisons have a way of structuring individuals in order to make them conform. However, the inmates manage, in different ways to create a world of their own. For instance, they would have their own language, be it signs or code words, in order for the staff and the guards do not understand what they are communicating about. Moreover, within their own culture, they also develop their own sets of values which have to be respected. For example, inmates have their own groups, whereby, in order to fit in that specific group, the member has to conform to a certain set of norms and values implemented by his or her own peers. If those unofficial rules are not respected, sanctions might take place. Sanctions would be bullying or the member being set aside and excluded from certain

The incarceration rates and grouping of mass offenders has highly damaged the effectiveness of the correctional system of the United States. While incarcerated, many offenders pick up worsened values and do this simply to survive the harsh ways of living arrangements. Studies and that have led to theories such as “social bond theory” and the “subculture of violence” has shown criminologist the difference between idolization and different value systems to what is important, many of which are picked up during incarceration making offenders and society, worse. Probation is the best way for offenders to be disciplined and given proper structure but also to be taught and rehabilitated to make for a more progressive society while reducing recidivism

Incarceration is usually used for punishment as main motives of society’s acceptance or desire for offenders to be “thrown in jail. If the punishment exceeds a reasonable correlation to the offense (i.e. punishment fits the crime) then the punished will resent the punishment and will hold ill will toward the punisher. With negative attitudes and feelings of bitterness, the incarcerated are not likely to learn their lesson, repent or go and sin no more. They are more likely to learn more efficient ways to break society’s laws from other convicts. Incarcerations as retribution tend to create a polarization between “us” (outlaws, outsiders) and them (those in power, the insiders). A high proportion of inmates came from the “outsiders” (i.e. poverty, lower class, or marginalized) in the first place. So, they view the police, the courts, and the prison as the instruments of those in power who control the systems of the dominate culture or “the man.”

Imagine receiving a life sentence for stealing a radio. Now understand that this is reality for felon Leandro Andrade, due to mandatory minimums and the Three Strikes Law (Alexander, 90). These punishments originated from the War on Drugs, which has contributed to the crackdown on drugs and the influx of prisoners. Another aspect of the convict is also often forgotten - what happens after prisons release felons? The released struggle to reintegrate back into society, after being sheltered from the outside world during their prison term. The connecting factor behind all of these problems is the structure of America’s justice and criminal system, from its inherent racism, to overzealous sentences, to how society handles prisoner reentrance as a whole.