Lack of Prisons Rehabilitation Programs Essay

During the past decade, there has been a newly found interest in prisoner reentry. This is due to a change in many of the factors surrounding the release of convicted felons and their reentry into to the community (Visher, C. A., & Travis, J. 2003). The number of people incarcerated in the United States prisons has quintupled and correctional facilities are working on getting them back into the community. Over half of the convicted felons that are released from prison return to correctional systems within one year of their release date. One of the most common reasons for their return into the prison systems is because many

Combating recidivism and the continuously growing prison population has been an ongoing problem that has been steadily draining federal, state, and local budgets. In a vain attempt to reduce recidivism the criminal justice system made sentences harsher, which in turn lead to more prisons being built to house the booming prison population. For almost 30 years’ researchers have sought answers for why so many criminals return to crime within five years of being released. These

Starting with the first policy option, rehabilitation has been proven in numerous studies that it reduces the probability of recidivism and reduces the costs of incarceration. The Justice Policy Institute discovered that substance abuse treatment reduces the societal costs of substance abuse more effectively than incarceration does(ENDNOTE).

The tension between rehabilitation and punishment has been increasing dramatically. This is because there have been sharp rises in the prison population and repeat offender rates. When one area is over emphasized in relation to the other, there is the possibility that imbalances will occur. Over the course of time, these issues can create challenges that will impact the criminal justice system and society at large. (Gadek, 2010) (Clear, 2011) (Gatotch, 2011)

The United States of America is phrased by many, as being “the land of the free.” Yet, the Unites States currently has the highest per capita prison population than any other country. The United States makes up only 5% of the world’s population and of that 5%, 25% of our overall nation’s population is currently incarcerated. A few factors that attribute to our high rates of incarceration include, sentencing laws: such as mandatory- minimum sentencing, lack of initial deterrence from crime, the war on drugs and the presence of recidivism. With our ever growing incarceration rates and the cost of housing individual offenders averaging $22,000 a criminal justice agenda. Recidivism refers to a person 's relapse into criminal behavior resulting in rearrests, reconviction or return to prison with or without a new sentence during a three-year period following the prisoner 's release (National Institute of Justice.) Many programs have been implemented in our prison system to help reduce the recidivism rates. Programs such as educational/ vocational programming, reentry programs, substance abuse programs and subsidized employment are among many programs in which have been proven effective. Yet, due to costs deficits, the clock is ticking to find evidence based programs to invest in. So, the question currently being sought after is, which method is most effective in reducing recidivism rates?

The United States is desperately in need of prison and criminal justice reform. The current system miserably fails at lowering recidivism rates, limiting prison populations and rehabilitating drug and alcohol addicts. This is because very few prisoners receive drug treatment in prison, and those who do receive inadequate treatment. Fortunately, there are a multitude of upcoming drug treatment techniques that have proven effective in treating addiction. As a result of refining drug treatment in American prisons, not only will more drug addicts overcome their addiction, but the prison population will be reduced and the United States improve financially.

The RAND research report presented the findings and objective analysis of just one singular type of rehabilitative programming. The Illinois Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform took it a step farther and came to some very significant determinations when they evaluated the effectiveness of rehabilitation programming as a whole. They came to some of the same conclusions that Jerome G. Miller came to in his article for the Washington Post. The commission agrees with Miller that there are some difficult challenges that DOC faces when providing rehabilitation programs for offenders. The first and foremost challenge being: although there are programs being offered throughout the Illinois Department of Corrections, quality

It has been noted that post-incarceration re-entry programs are nearly existent, which leaves former offenders committing the same crimes over and over again. If inmates are doing time for drugs or a mentally related illness, there should be some type of rehabilitation so they are able to learn from their mistakes and overcome them. If the U.S. could set-up a program for these types of issues, it could also help overcrowding in prisons because they won’t be committing the same crimes over

He highlighted that two thirds of these prisoners often reoffend within three years of leaving the prison and often the crime is more serious and more violent every next time.

Although several educational programs are widely available, many inmates are unable to take advantage of them, do not complete them, or lack follow up in the form of ongoing support services once released from the correctional system. The following table displays this concern: Table 2. national and state data on inmate participation and completion . Approximate Numbers 1993-2007: Institution Type Total Number of Inmates System 165,000 167,717 Number of Inmates Enrolled in Education Programs 54,000 87,624 Rate of Attendance, At Completion of Course 50% 60% Rate of Completion

Recidivism is the act of repeating an undesirable behavior after numerous occasions of negative consequences. Recidivism refers to a person 's relapse into criminal behavior and is measured by criminal acts that resulted in rearrest, reconviction or return to jail within a three-year period following the criminal 's release. Approximately 6 in 10 released inmates are rearrested or reincarcerated within three years of release from prison (The Bureau of Planning, Research and Statistics, 2013). Many criminals go to jail after doing time because they find it hard to fit back in with the normal life due to returning to high risk places and finding a job. In order to eliminate high recidivism with the jail system, it is necessary to provide education and vocational training.

The hard line stance by law enforcement to treat addiction with a criminal justice approach rather than with a public health approach has resulted in over-crowded prisons and offenders in need of treatment. A significant rise in the prison population began with enactment of the federal Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 and The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 (Olson & Lurigio, 2014). Similarly, Olson and Lurigio (2014) highlighted the escalating prison population by noting from 1990-2000 the state prison population had almost doubled. Additionally, Taxman, Perdoni, and Caudy (2013) referred to the approximate 7 million adults being supervised by the United State correctional system with almost 70% have been

Recidivism is a social problem that continues year after year. The National Institute of Justice claims that this is one of the most fundamental concepts in criminal justice. They also provide some statistic. Within three years of release, about two-thirds (67.8 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested. Within five years of release, about three-quarters (76.6 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested. Of those prisoners who were rearrested, more than half (56.7 percent) were arrested by the end of the first year. Recidivism is the act of an individual continuing a bad behavior after they have experienced negative consequences or repercussion from that behavior. In some instances

Rehabilitation in prisons is defined as “an internal change that results in a cessation of the targeted negative behavior” (Joycelyn M. Pollock, Prisons today and tomorrow).

As stated by the ABA, was it is vital that “Correctional authorities should begin to plan for each prisoner’s eventual release and reintegration into the community from the time of that prisoner’s admission into the correctional system and facility” (ABA Standard 23-8.2 pg 246). Everyone would regard the reintegration of inmates of correctional institutes as a learning task. I am aware that usually when people think about learning something, they think of schoolwork and learning physical and verbal skills in a classroom. These inmates of the prison system will be learning the necessities of outside of a classroom. The rehabilitation of these prisoners will include a lot of vocational training, learning to live by the rules and guidelines of society. Vocational training enable the prisoners to have privileges. The existence of privileges is very vital for prisoners because they help promote inmate rehabilitation. According to Brad Parks of The New York Post “The federal Bureau of Prisons budget has more than sextupled since 1980, even when adjusting for inflation.