Do prisons actually work?

I have been watching this documentary called "lockdown" on Neflix lately. So first of all, I have never been to prison (I'm 17) and I do NOT plan to go there EVER (it sounds like it really really sucks) so the only observation I have made of it is through this T.V. show. My friend's stepdad (who is a very nice guy) went to prison for something with drugs back about a year ago. But my friend never talks about it. But when he came back from jail, he was the same man. So frankly, all I know about the U.S. prison system is someone who went to prison and from a few episodes of a National Geographic documentary. But my observation was, it works for some people, but most people are actually propelled into a deeper life of crime as a consequence of the exposure to more violent and immutable criminals. It seems as if prison is a place where criminals learn to be tougher criminals, and where people who really need mental rehabilitation and therapy are cast into a world where they are beat down for being a coward and mocked because of a low position on the prison's hierarchy. For instance, this one (really creepy) 19 year old cowardly kid was sent to prison for threatening osmeones life with a knife. But when he arrived, his social awkwardness brought him pain and mockery. His akwardness was reinforced, and his violent tendencies were exacerbated becasue of the fact that he was unfamiliar with the harsh prison society. We all know that he did a crime that is ethically nearly unforgivable in a way, but did this really help him for when his 15 year sentence is up?





They say that the main problem is what happens after the criminal is released from prison. That a large portion of them end up back in prison becasue threy repeat the behavior that sent them there. Most people have trouble adjusting to a new life, and several people develop a social anxiety to the people in the real world. Why have we not set up a rehabiliation program that helps offenders properly reenter society? Another question, why do we as a society condemn post correctional offenders and make it harder for them to gt a decent job? How do we fix this? What REALLY happens to a criminal when they are released from a multi-year sentence?





I am not going to set up this quesitonf or those of you Eurotrolls who want to talk about how Europes system is better than America's system. Unless you want to provide citable sources that prove this, do NOT mention it!





Again, I have very little knowledge on the american prison system, but my only observations are from a TV show. So any more info would be great! :)|||The Department of Corrections, no matter what state it is, is corrupt. People try to say that the main goal of prison is to "rehabilitate" offenders, but that is not what prison does. Society thinks that prison is this fabulous place that gives inmates free food, housing, television, and luxury items at the tax payers' expense, but in all reality, it is not like that. The majority of prisons don't have televisions in them, and if they do, they cost a lot of money at the commissary. Luxury items are limited to bars of soup, packages of ramen soup, small containers of ice cream, candy bars, and books to read, and you can only buy them if you, as the inmates say, have money on your books. While these things make doing time easier if you're lucky enough to have outside support, it doesn't restore the inmate's freedom, or the colors one misses while incarcerated. The atmosphere in prison is not only violent and angry, but it's stressful, racist, hateful, and exhausting. There's no such thing as friends or loyalty in a penitentiary. The constant fights and guards' degrading takes a tole on one's mind, as does spending time in administrative segregation, or solitary confinement as some call it. OC gas in your eyes is painful, as is being tased and administered pepper spray. You become a slave to the system, and violence is the only thing you know. You learn the rules and follow them. You do what you have to do to survive. Society doesn't care about you, and time passes by. It's as if you cease to exist. In people's minds, you are nothing but a dangerous hazard that it now locked up and taken care of. When you get out, the world is blinding. Technology doesn't ask your permission to advance, and current events don't stop just because you got locked up. There are new faces to see, new things to discover, new products to learn about, and new facts to read up on. You have to get used to the colors of the world again, and not having bars or doors or barbed wire surrounding you. You have to fit in with normal society, but now, you have an even stronger hatred for everything around you. The way things work in prison is not the same as it is in the free world, but you know no other way. Then, without family or friends to help you, and criminal background checks ruining your life, your only option is to turn to crime. Thus, you return to the system. In and out, out and in; it's a vicious cycle that destroys your mind and exhausts your body. It's fun to dance with the devil, but after you've done your time and you're back out into the real world, you're still not free; you're trapped within your own mind, still incarcerated. The ways of prison are forever in you, and that becomes your lifestyle. Your cell mate becomes your family, and prison becomes your home.





What REALLY happens to an offender that is released after serving several years? Well, for me, it went like this: I reached the end of my sentence earlier this year, was given a few bucks from the guards, got on a bus, and went back to my hometown, not that I knew anyone. I'd never had friends or family, and the situation hadn't changed. I looked at the money in my hand and went into a store. I bought some pizza, a pair of jeans, a new shirt, and a hoodie, because my old clothes from when I was 18 didn't fit the 24 year old I was now. I changed into the new clothes, dumped the old in a trash can, and wandered around the neighborhood, observing what had changed. Lots of things were different, but I had no desire to let the new products and places intimidate me. Not yet. So as I roamed from one street to the next, I spent the remainder of my money at a bowling alley and decided to play a game. There, I met my first two friends in my entire life. We started talking, and then started hanging out together. I had no ties to anything; it was me against the world. Still now, a couple of months later, I'm afraid to tell my friends that I've been in prison and had previous arrests before that. I'm still an angry, hateful person, and I still carry out criminal acts. Now it's either for the thrill of it, or for money. I'm homeless, broke, and bored with life. Mine's going nowhere, and even though I fill out job applications constantly, they're always denied. I'm almost certain there's a warrant out for me, but I'm just waiting until after my birthday in early January to turn myself in. I'm going back to prison, for one reason or another. One minute I'll be charged with first degree murder, the next second degree armed robbery. Or maybe they'll decide to stick on a resisting arrest and public intoxication charge. And because I have a gun, a switchblade, and brass knuckles on me, they'll add criminal possession of a firearm and possession of illegal weapons to the charge. Maybe I'll be drunk at the time, and they'll put on one count of public intoxication. Prison does not work. At all. That's the shortest, simplest, easiest way to put it.|||1 other thing, Jay. As a disclaimer. DO NOT continue to do these criminal acts. You will end back in prison. You really do sound like you have potential, you just need to keep trying to make it on the outside world. You have no excuses at this point. And get rid of the gun and the knife

Report Abuse

|||It is up to the criminal if he wants to change or not. You can enroll in the best school but learn nothing unless you are willing to learn. If those people are unwilling to change, then there is nothing you can do for them.|||It takes dangerous people off the streets, so yes it works.|||Prisons are a waste of money if they keep anyone except those psychopaths who cannot be reasoned with in them.


The government loves locking non-violent people(drug users) with more dangerous people so they can get stabbed/raped.|||You can't really compare our prison system with that of Europe's without comparing the entire criminal justice systems. Our criminals have far more protections, have the right to remain silent, the right to speak with an attorney, the right to a speedy trial, and the presumption of innocence. (Tell the Eurotrolls (love that term, by the way) to take a look at how the Italian justice system treated Amanda Knox. She was jailed for an extended period before criminal charges were even filed.)





Anyway. This really isn't the venue to give you the detailed answer but I'll try and give you a nutshell answer because I love the fact a 17 year old is asking a question and looking for insight.





If you look at (Google) for the history of corrections in this country you will see that we have tried a number of different techniques: Colonial (1600s-1790s); Penitentiary (1790s-1860s); Reformatory (1870s-1890s); Progressive (1890s-1930s); Medical (1930s-1960s); Community (1960s-1970s); Crime Control (1970s-Present)





Of everything we've tried, Crime Control is what we've found makes the most sense. Only a small percentage of the population commits the vast majority of the crimes. And you cannot rehabilitate someone who does not choose to be rehabilitated. Every prison facility offers educational and vocational opportunities to non-violent offenders - but an inmate who doesn't want to take advantage of those opportunities isn't going to.





In our Crime Control system, offenders don't go to prison for minor offenses or even first offenses (unless they seriously hurt or kill someone). They are given many opportunities and they have to make some deliberate choices to get to the point where they are serving time in prison.





The 19 year old to whom you are referring didn't just get 15 years for threatening someone with a knife. He has a serious history and the intimidation with a weapon charge was the straw that broke the camel's back.





If you have interest in doing independent research, I'd recommend that you read "The Hot House" which is an account of a reporter about USP Leavenworth. And also a book called: "Games Criminals Play." (Sorry, but I can't remember the names of either author. Both are interesting and very readable books though. I read them both when I was in college, and I still remember them.)