Prison Rehabilitation

Society holds expectations for its citizens, and non-citizens at a very high level. They expect everyone to abide by the law, and give back to the community. In a perfect world all citizens and non-citizens would be good Samaritans, sadly it is far from that in today’s society. Many individuals are deviant and stray from society’s expectations of them. We know them as criminals. Indeed some of them may be hardened criminals, yet some of them commit petty crimes that are still a burden on society. Whether, their crime is petty or severe, society expects them to pay for their actions. Most criminals at one time or another will spend time in prison or jail.

Thanks to the groundbreaking Thirteenth Amendment, no person may be forced to work except in retribution for a crime he or she committed. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is often viewed only as the amendment that abolished the insufferable slavery of African-Americans, - and this does appear to be the case on the surface - however many more interpretations promise many useful arguments for the labor movement and cause controversy over its ineffectiveness in combating racism and its hand in creating the hotly-debated American for-profit prison system.

Within the film 13th by Ava DuVernay it exploits the 13th amendment, analysis the reasons behind mass incarceration and illustrates the effects it has had on African Americans. The 13th amendment, which abolished slavery in the U.S except as a punishment for those who commit a crime, opened up a doorway that redesigned social cast. Throughout this video, it demonstrates how the criminal justice system was designed to target and punish African Americans. For instance, this video mentions that crack and cocaine, although nearly identical, were given different sentences. If you were caught with crack you would be given a harsher punishment then if you were caught with cocaine.

Through this, we witness the way state and federal governments use drugs to imprison black people. In turn, black people being imprisoned has become a private venture. However, there have been historical primordial forces that have contributed to the current racial inequalities and criminal injustices. Many Americans view the 13th amendment as one of the most significant milestones in the history of America. The 13th amendment seemingly established all former slaves to legal human status, there was a caveat in the clause: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or place subject to their jurisdiction" (DuVernay, 2016). In essence, slavery was illegal except for those who committed a criminal offense, which means a black person can be re-enslaved. Before the 13th Amendment, most convicts in prisons were white people. However, after the 13th amendment, most prisoners were black people. In addition, these former slaves were imprisoned and fined for petty theft, vagabondage and lack of keeping a

In history class, we’ve learned that the 13th amendment had set out to abolish slavery. The 13th amendment is usually something that is regarded as a major feat for the progress of human and civil rights within the United States. Unfortunately, this depiction of “overcoming” slavery and in turn racism, isn’t necessarily a reality. Rather, as the film 13th displays, the 13th amendment has loopholes that mostly affect minority groups (primarily Black and Hispanic people), which have allowed for mass incarceration and what could easily be considered as modern day slavery to slip through the cracks.

Overall, the United States prison system and society’s view of African Americans needs to change. People need to make sure that the mistakes society has made in the past do not repeat themselves. In order to fix many of the existing problems it is important to focus on reforming the prison system. Doing so would prevent many future cases of injustice and racial

It is a widespread notion that the Thirteenth Amendment ended the unconstitutional enslavement of African Americans in the United States, declaring "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” Most Americans, however, do not take note of the loophole placed in the famed Thirteenth Amendment- slavery was deemed unconstitutional with the exception of being used as a ‘punishment for crime’. Michelle Alexander examines this loophole in The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, arguing how mass incarceration has replaced slavery and Jim Crow to reduce black Americans to a second class status. Through

The thirteenth amendment was the first to abolish slavery, or so people say. The thirteenth amendment reads, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction,” the constitution. This amendment could easily fool people into believing that all was right within the world. However, soon after this amendment was added to the constitution unjust laws started to pop up within the states, “When slavery was legally abolished. A new set of laws called Black Codes emerged to criminalize legal activity for African Americans. Through the enforcement of these laws, acts such as

Lee Tergeson, actor from the television show OZ said, “I know what it is like to be ignored, and I think that is the big problem about the prison system: These people are being thrown away. There is no sense of rehabilitation. In some places, they are trying to do things. But, in most cases, it is a holding cell.” (Tergeson, 2002) He speaks the truth.

A broad range of information and support programs are offered to guide convicted criminals released from federal and state prisons and jails prepare for their reentrance into society. These programs’ main aim is to equip prisoners with skills and information to assist them in their transition from prison into the community and help them survive life outside of prison. These curriculums offer a lot of relevant knowledge according to each prisoner’s situation. This process phase of the development is called “Protect and Prepare” (Corrections, Pg. 141).They include education, rehabilitation, transitional work programs, and housing programs.

Rehabilitation is meant to restore someone to good health without punishment. Rehabilitation allows previous offenders to ease into the community after they serve their stint in jail. Personally, I don’t believe that rehabilitation on its own is adequate consequences for someone who committed such a traumatic and horrific crime that would incarcerate them for the remainder of their lives. I do not believe that rehabilitation is a ligament punishment. The book stated that Rehabilitation is forcing an offender to do something that they do not choose. However, being forced to attend anger management, or other various classes is not a substantial comparison to serving time in jail. While you are forced against your will to attend these classes it does not mean that you will incorporate their techniques and tactics into your own life and become a law-abiding citizen. Incarceration is a concrete method to showing offenders their actions are intolerable.

After 245 years of slavery, the United States consistently tries to redefine itself as an inclusive country in attempt to erase their past. In reality, those who are in power have found new ways to enforce their power on non whites, specifically African-Americans in America, one of which is through the prison system. Eller mentions that although the percentage in the American population of black men are 12 percent, they constitute for 44 percent of arrests for violent crimes (Eller, pg. 280). In addition, African-Americans are given longer prison sentences for the same crime committed by

The documentary 13th by Ava DuVernay was a visual masterpiece. The documentary provided its viewers with an array of information that spanned throughout centuries and was eloquently executed in less than 2 hours. The central focus of the film was about how the 13th amendment shaped this country and its prison system. The 13th amendment was the building block for mass incarceration and as time has gone on, new laws and amendments strengthened the process for more people to get incarcerated. Slavery benefited the country as a whole and as the Civil War was winding down, slavery was coming to an end. As the documentary states, the South especially relied heavily on slavery for their economy to sustain. After the passing of the 13th amendment, slaves were freed and it left the South’s economy in shambles. A stipulation within the 13th amendment, that states “Neither slavery not involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been dully convicted, shall exist within the United States.” In turn, mass amounts of newly freed slaves were arrested and deemed criminals. Being criminalized reduced them back to a lower status in the United States, and unfortunately reignited slavery in a new kind of form. The film was not only educational, it also provided its viewers with knowledge about why there is such a disparity in mass incarnations amongst people of color compared to their white counterparts.

One of the duties of Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) is to assure the citizens of Ohio are protected from the actions of criminal offenders. When it is time for an inmate to be released into society, ODRC has devised a plan, known as the Ohio Reentry Program, to bridge the gap and facilitate the correctional inmates’ release into communities around Ohio and to help curb recidivism.

Criminologist and politicians have debated the effectiveness of correctional rehabilitation programs since the 1970’s when criminal justice scholars and policy makers throughout the United States embraced Robert Martinson’s credo of “nothing works” (Shrum, 2004). Recidivism, the rate at which released offenders return to jail or prison, has become the most accepted outcome measure in corrections. The public's desire to reduce the economic and social costs associated with crime and incarceration has resulted in an emphasis on recidivism as an outcome measure of program effectiveness. While correctional facilities continue to grow, corrections make up an increasing amount of state and federal budgets. The recidivism rate in