The 5 Reasons for Incarceration
Punishment, Isolation, Rehabilitation, Justice and Redemption
Isolation - this doesn't need much further explanation and involves 'getting them off our streets' to minimize potential harm and risk.
Punishment is purportedly a deterrent designed to make an offender think twice before re-offending. Sadly this is often simply not true. The danger of administering punishment is that is can often breed dangerous contempt. There are scientific studies that show that even severe forms of torture don't actually work.
"Vengeance is mine", (Sayeth the Lord) is one of my favorite quotes. I used it often in prison. To my mind vengeance that is other than 'from the Lord' is completely useless. Vengeance too comes under the punishment heading.
Rehabilitation involves specific programs that are designed to teach offenders about their behaviours and try to turn them around. And, take it from someone who has worked in the system a number of years that there is not much of this going on inside Australian prisons, or those in the USA from what I can tell. In my country the current emphasis is on punitive measures which are reflected by high incarceration rates. Rehabilitation has a very low priority in our current political climate.
Redemption supposedly happens as a consequence of the sentence or jail term etc but has much to do with 'closure'; that feeling that justice has been addressed and served in a fair way that affords both the harmed and the harmer feeling a sense of closure. Of course this rarely happens - though I have encountered cases that may exhibit redemption. Fodder for further articles.
Justice encompasses all of the above elements.
I don't believe there are many people who would argue that the justice system is indeed fair and equitable and that it satisfies all of the above elements and in the right doses in the current application of the justice equation.
Published by Jaahda Jinnah
Jaahda Jinnah is a wise old crone who knows much about all sorts of things. Try me ! View profile
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6 Comments
Post a CommentI agree 100%. I just happen to work at a pretty good prison in a State that tries to make changes for the good. The logic here is if the inmate are treated humanly we will all be safer and for the most part I agree with that logic. Firm Fair and Consistent.
Before you start believing in the "country club prison" myth, read Lockdown America by Christian Parenti, and The Celling of America, and anthology edited by Daniel Burton Rose and Dan Pens, to get the other side of the story. Conditions vary greatly from state to state, and from facility to facility even within at state. I've been in some decent places, and I've seen some medieval dungeons with color TVs on the walls. I'm not saying that I didn't deserve to go to prison, I did. But both the right and the left give overly simplistic views of what's going on, and ultimately, the attitudes, policies and practices of the staff and administration at any given prison greatly affect the overall rehabilitative climate of the institution.
i heard a rumor that American jails had conjugal visits!!!
If it wasn't for missing the sex with my wife...hell I wouldn't mind it! But then again I work there everyday as it is so it wouldn't be that much of a change for me....LOL!
You almost make it sound attractive Deez - but would you want to live there instead of where you currently live ?
Well, let's see here! In American prisons, inmates have three great meals a day, they have jobs, they can go to college, they get good clothes to wear, they can get their GED or high school diploma, they can go to trade schools, they can practice religious freedom and can go to church no matter what religion they are, they can go shopping, they can have musical instruments, they can play in a band, they have a weight room, they can play sports, they can have visitors, they have a library and it has a legal library equal to a college campus, their medical-dental-mental health needs are all taken care of, they have NA AA meetings, and they are given specialized treatment/programming if they are a sexual offender. Now here comes the twist it's up to the inmate to take advantage of the things we offer. Sadly however, not too many do! We can not force change on them they have to want it and work for it themselves.