Essay on Recidivism: Prison and Correctional Education

The United States prison system is considered today to be one of the most flawed and corrupt systems of the modern world. Given this fact, it is unsurprising that one of the most talked about issues in the US today is prison reform. Prison reform is a phrase which refers to the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, establishing a more effective penal system, or implementing alternatives to incarceration. The US has spent the past twenty years gradually working to improve its prisons, and even recently strives to better the federal and state prison system as a whole. One of the main goals of prison reform is reducing recidivism, which is the chance of an incarcerated person re-offending. One of the main ways to do this is to give inmates ways to spend their time that will better them and prepare them to re-enter society as a fully productive, rehabilitated citizen. This facet of prison reform is the basis for the Prison Reform and Redemption Act of 2017. This bill, which was to be reviewed on Wednesday, April 25 but is

One of the main barriers that inmates face when they are released from prison is limited cognitive skills, limited education and work experience, and substance abuse or other mental health problems. Substance abuse and other mental health problems limit employability because it limits the job readiness that is required for employment (Holzer, Raphael & Stoll, 2003). Another issue that is faced when inmates are released into society is that any skills that they did have prior to conviction has diminished greatly and they face lower pay due to their diminished or lack of skills, and the attitudes that have been developed during their time in prison deeply affects their attitude during their search for employment. Offenders also face another barrier when searching for employment. Many businesses can be held legally liable for any criminal action that their employees may cause (Holzer, Raphael & Stoll, 2003). These barriers that offenders face upon release is why solid solutions and planning must be implemented when considering the integration of ex-felons into society and preparation for reentry must begin well before the scheduled release date in order to successfully reintegrate an inmate into society and reduce the rate of recidivism.

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 incarcerates more people, per capita, than any other nation in the entire world. State and local prisons and jails account for about 80% of incarcerations. Although crime rates have decreased since the 1990s, incarceration rates have soared. According to a recent Prison Policy Initiative publication, approximately 2.3 million people are currently “locked up” in the United States. Of these 2.3 million people, 1 in 5 are locked up for a drug related offense. Statistics show that prisoners and felons imprisoned for drug related crimes are disproportionately Black and Hispanic. The mass incarceration issue in the United States derives from the many arrests associated with these “offenses” regarding drugs and the war on drugs.

We must enact policies that downscale the prison population. The best approach is to shift resources away from the incarceration and punishment of certain inmate categories, such as nonviolent drug offenders, investing instead in their rehabilitation. Though correction systems have historically favored punishment over ‘softer’ rehabilitation, most nonviolent, drug-related offenders would benefit more from rehabilitation than incarceration. Today, in great part as a consequence of the War on Drugs, our prisons house over half a million drug offenders, representing over one-half of the federal inmate population in the United States, an increase of 790 percent since 1980. It is time for new leadership on the War on Drugs which has cost billions of dollars and has caused the endangerment of inmates’ and correctional officers’ lives due to mass incarceration. Do we wish to continue being the most punitive developed country in the world? Instead of implementing mandatory

The United States has a larger percent of its population incarcerated than any other country. America is responsible for a quarter of the world’s inmates, and its incarceration rate is growing exponentially. The expense generated by these overcrowded prisons cost the country a substantial amount of money every year. While people are incarcerated for a number of reasons, the country’s prisons are focused on punishment rather than reform, and the result is a misguided system that fails to rehabilitate criminals or discourage crime. The ineffectiveness of the United States’ criminal justice system is caused by mass incarceration of non-violent offenders, racial profiling, and a high rate of recidivism.

Since 2002, The United States has had the highest incarceration rate in the world, and many of those imprisoned within the U.S. will be released and rearrested within three years (Langan & Levin, 2002). Unfortunately, research has been mixed shown that the time spent in prison does not successfully rehabilitate most inmates, and the majority of criminals return to a life of crime almost immediately. Most experts believe that many prisoners will learn more and better ways to commit crimes while they are locked up with fellow convicts. There is a combination of programs and environmental conditions that impact the recidivism rates. The majority of prisons exist to protect the public and punish the offender (French & Gendreau, 2006; Langan &

The United States is the world’s leader in incarceration. It spends more resources on its prison system than any other nation and has the largest prison population in the world. Between 1980 and 2016, the number of inmates in U.S. state and federal prisons increased from 320,000 to more than 1.5 million. This corresponds to a change in the incarceration rate from 139 to 450 prisoners per 100,000 residents. Most lawmakers tend to believe that incarceration is a necessary construct needed to reform criminals to properly incorporate them into society. They insist imprisonment reduces crime rates through incapacitation and deterrence. Thus, it is not surprising that expenditures on corrections increased as states built new prisons,

More than 700,000 prisoners are discharged from Federal and state prison every year, while another nine million cycle through regional prisons. Surprisingly, more than two-thirds of these inmates are arrested again within three years of their discharge and many of them end up reincarcerated (White House, 2011). Such high rates of relapse and recidivism are adding a huge burden on the current criminal justice system, calling for the public support for improvements and promotion of effective offender reentry programs in local communities.

A large number of incarcerated people leave the state and federal prisons every year. It becomes a major concern for federal, local, and state government when they reenter into the community. Most of these individuals do not fit into the community and after a short period of time, some of them would have committed new crimes or have violated terms in which they were released and thus re-incarcerated. This issue brings about many

Though there is evidence that educational programs are needed to help in reducing crime, politicians and policy makers have not really understood this finding and thereby support the programs they assume are better suited at deterring criminals. Thus, they directed funding from educational programs to other areas, such as in security and anger management or drug treatment (Batiuk et al 2005). Furthermore, studies have shown that those inmates that are released from prison, about two thirds of them end up being re-incarcerated within three years of their release (Klein et al 2004). As a result, when these policy makers ignore empirical research and findings and set up own policies, they are setting up the offenders for failure and anyone else affected by the policies,

Lurigio and Olson (2014) noted prison-based treatment starts the recovery process, but a continuum of care is a necessity to maximize the effectiveness of treatment. Their research found offenders who participated in prison-based treatment and community aftercare were less likely to re-offend compared to those who only participated in prison-based treatment. Hall et al. (2012) found higher success rates among offenders who participated in prison-based treatment and continued to engage in treatment once released from custody. A lack of education is another factor that plays in the role of recidivism. Dirks-Linhorst et al. (2012) highlighted the importance of community aftercare and the role of education because those who lacked a high-school diploma or GED were more likely to re-offend. Many offenders have poor work histories and Dickson, Leukefeld, Stanton-Tindall, Webster, and Wilson (2014) noted employment is a critical key to the continued success of an offender and their treatment. Dickson (2014) suggest offenders who obtain employment once released from custody will be more successful in the reentry process.

In 2009 nearly three quarters of a million offenders were released from prisons and jails in the United States, and it is estimated that roughly half of them will reoffend within three years of being released and will return to prison (Katel 1005). Most of these individuals, who are non-violent, low-level offenders, have little education, job experience, limited social skills and a drug or alcohol dependence (May and Pitts 21). That coupled with the fact they have a criminal record, reduces their chances of finding suitable housing or a decent job. Like it or not this affects all of us in one way or another. As taxpayers, we pay the costs of the justice system, incarceration, and there is the issue of public safety. This problem is not

Jung, Haeil. "Do Prison Work-Release Programs Improve Subsequent Labor Market Outcomes? Evidence from the Adult Transition Centers in Illinois." Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 53.5 (2014): 384-402.

In order to support themselves and their families, it is crucial inmates find a job upon their release. Without at