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The Incarceration Of Prison Incarceration

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Since the begging of any form of judicial system there has been some way to hold those who break the law. Prisons have never been something that held a positive ideal, to most people they are dark, grey, and clinical. Differing opinions on how to treat prisoners have been around probably just as long as prisons themselves. However, because of recent increase in prison populations as well as the tightening of the laws, treatment of prisoners has gone from rehabbing them to just locking them down and leaving them there to rot. Not only do I think that rehabilitation is a vastly better system, treating them as cretins just makes them worse off than when they went in. In the late 70’s and early 80’s the attitude towards prison was rehabilitation. They were provided with education and vocational skills, prisoners could receive Pell grants, and education was not just accepted it was encouraged. Recidivism rates were much lower back then, even with less prison population. When they were let out they’d had the knowledge to have their own life and the skills to get a job. The incentive to go back to crime was much lower, they could get honest pay. Then during the latter half of the decade the United States sees an increase in prison population, not totally unexpected with the rise in population, and a stricter mentality towards punishment. Offenders were receiving tougher sentences with little likelihood of parole, creating an environment that did not give prisoners incentive to
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