The Effect Of Rehabilitation On Children

A tremendous obstacle for many inmates is a lack of funding available for them to continue their education after they have received their GED (or entered CDOC already having their high school diploma and maybe some college experience). College Correspondence courses, completed entirely on paper, via Prisoner Distance Learning programs are expanding. Adams State University has been recognized as having one of the largest prisoner education programs in the country. It is fantastic that inmates are beginning to have access to these programs. Offenders are able to obtain degrees such as an Associate of Arts or Science, a Bachelor’s

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

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Everyone knows that you can’t help someone unless they want to help themselves. When the prison system was first established, the possibilities in rehabilitation were nothing like they are

Prisons not only rehabilitate, but they also deter people from going to prison. The fear of going to prison is a great deterrence for a perspective criminal. Hard life styles along with loss of freedom tend to push the criminal away from the chance of being incarcerated. Numbers show that there are fewer rapes, and fewer murders, each year, all an obvious product of prison deterrence. After all, if a person has a friend who just got out of jail, and hears all of the war stories, that person would surely not want to go to prison and end up like his friend. By making life in prison hard, the prison is doing a great job in getting the word out. Prison is no joke! They are doing their job in deterring criminals from wanting to enter the gates of hell.

Rehabilitation, what is rehabilitation? Rehabilitation is the action of restoring someone to a normal life through training and therapy after incarcerated, addiction or illness. Rehabilitation can be used for an offender who has committed a crime and is incarcerated, someone who is struggling with addiction or illness. Rehabilitation was originated in 1779 by the British Government as part of the Penitentiary Act, rehabilitation would consist of punishment along with treatment for the offenders. (Benjamin Disraeli 2004). The purpose of rehabilitation is to treat the offender in order for the offender to return to society and be able to contribute, rehabilitation is also a punishment for breaking a law.

Many programs have been initiated to help the problems of overcrowding and negligence. These include education, rehabilitation programs, work-release programs, and other preventative measures. Numerous education programs are offered to inmates. Some prisons even mandate the completion of a GED if the offender never finished high school. Many colleges in the prison’s community partner together with each other to enable higher learning as a possibility for offenders to obtain college credit. These services help inmates succeed in an inmate’s preparation to reintegrate into society with less chances of being arrested again. Offenders that are more prepared to leave prison are not as likely to commit a crime which improves the safety of the public and also saves money from taxpayers. (Office of Vocational Adult Education, 2009)

In our world, nobody is perfect. Some people have disorders; some people are not raised correctly; some people are in need of essentials. These conditions are usually the main causes of a crime. On the other hand, the good news is that most people can be rehabilitated. The only people who might not be able to be rehabilitated are people with major disorders. Even though some people can’t be rehabilitated, we still need to make a safe community, so we need to rehabilitate the people that can be rehabilitated. In order to do that “[w]e need to create prison conditions, both physical and psychological, that encourage cooperation on all sides and that support change as opposed to conflict and calcification of negative behavior” (Chura). The people that made mistakes that got them in prison need to know that what they did was wrong, and how to fix it. They also need to know to never do it again, and be aware of the differences between right and wrong. The people that can be identified as good candidates for rehabilitation need to go through reform programs in prison and learn how

Creating positive influences on our prisoners can reap many more benefits than just educating and releasing back into society. Just as we invest money to educate our children, we can reinvest money to target populations that our prisoners come from to prevent crimes. When we teach them new skills that can better their lives, they can then teach others by example. Once an inmate enters back into society and gets a job in his or her field, stays away from crime, and makes better choices, they can make a positive impact on their communities. Younger generations can see the encouraging example set forth and know that they too can make wiser decisions and hope for the

The Rehabilitative Era, spanning from 1960 to 1980, was a time in which self-improvement programs within prisons were used to reform prisoners rather than utilizing forms of punishment. Prisoners were still held accountable for their crimes, but their overall mental and psychical health was taken into account. Prisoners were seen as needing help in learning how to properly life within society. A clinical professor of psychiatry, James Gilligan (2012) writes, “The only rational purpose for a prison is to restrain those who are violent from inflicting harm on themselves or others, while we help them to change their behavior from that pattern to one that is nonviolent and even constructive, so that they can return to the community.” Imprisoning people to just teach them a lesson or inflict some type of revenge is inhumane. Acting violent towards already violent people only exasperates the problems they have. By giving them tools to better themselves, it would motivate them to change their lives for the better and be able to return to society as law-abiding citizens. While conducting research in San Francisco jails,

Per the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), nearly 50% of current inmates are jailed for nonviolent offenses (Federal Bureau of Prisons, n.d.). Almost 68% (two-thirds) of inmates return to prison within three years of being released, and 77% (three-quarters) were arrested within five years of leaving (Topic, n.d.). These numbers are staggering and seem to go largely ignored by mainstream media and the public. Most of them view people in prison as deserving of it and see no need to offer them (prisoners) help. While there are some prisons that offer rehabilitation in forms such as educational programs, psychiatric treatment and various others, they are largely not implemented in prisons across the country. These programs are detrimental in helping inmates cope with prison life and ease the transition back into civilian life. Psychiatric treatment is of the utmost importance as it benefits inmates tremendously. College programs are another key beneficial factor in prison. Seeing as in prior years, a lot of inmates failed to find work after leaving jail. In more recent years, more and more programs are being added to prisons for inmates to take advantage of as well as the return of Pell grants for them. The programs allow inmates to train and become certified while in jail, and offer employment after being released. At least giving some hope to those who have none while incarcerated. Prison rehabilitation should be offered to inmates because it helps with psychological programs,

In a criminal point of view individuals, they fine it ver difficult and tend to struggle with adapting to the norms of life after being locked in a cell for long period of time. Adjusting to this includes getting a jobs, living freely (without probation) , and many other key points of survival.

Prison life can be harsh, and time spent in a isolation is even worse. A majority of those in prison spend countless hours in idleness. It would be much better if they used that time to reeducate themselves for a productive life on the outside. Some of the prisoners have serious emotional and mental problems that are never addressed and it is illogical to not attempt to correct these problems before they are released.

     The idea of sentencing a criminal for a period of time in a prison isn't working, so prisons should focus more on changing their rehabilitation programs. Life in prison should be like the outside world as much as possible, given the fact of imprisonment. Prisoners would be less prepared if the prison environment is artificial and abnormal compared to the outside world they will have to encounter later on. A prisoner also needs to keep family ties. Research in

When convicts are released out of prison into the real world they have trouble adapting. They struggle with things like addiction, social skills, and job opportunities. For this reason, committing crimes is a tempting decision. On average 70% of ex-convicts will be in prison within three years of being released. When prisoners are educated in prison and either get a degree or learn a trade they have a 46% lower chance of being reincarcerated, compared to those who did not participate in prison education. This is because the education provided in prison prepares the inmates for a normal life. When they come out they either have a degree or a new skill. This new knowledge can provide opportunities of jobs and a future for the ex-convicts. Frank Harris a man form London, England has firsthand experience with prison education. He was expelled from school at the age of twelve and grew up as a delinquent. For thirty years Frank had been in and out of prison, until the age of fifty-three, when he found his way out through education. Frank now has a stable family and a job counseling those who are going through what he went through. Having an education helps the released inmates to have opportunities and a career path so they do not fall back into their old

Additionally, if the offender views change as normal, and that being locked up has an expiry date (e.g. the temporarily incarcerated individuals), they will have a more positive outlook on life and they will be happier given the circumstances. Moreover, the offender will be able to appreciate that they were fortunate to be free at one point in their life and that they will be a free at another point in their life. Until then, the offender can look at their situation through a positive frame to free themselves mentally, although they are locked up physically. However, reframing is only successful based on our belief of how the world should be. Furthermore, as storytelling creatures we are more likely to perceive a situation to be more difficult than it really is. For example, one student gets a B on an essay and is devastated while another gets the same grade and is ecstatic. It all boils down to how each of the student view the world, which can be related to an offender in prison. The offender can blame the criminal justice system or someone else for their predicament, however, this will only leave the offender unhappy. While another offender is able to accept responsibility for their actions and work on how to forgive themselves and move on with their lives. The latter tend to have a happier life and are more likely to finish their time