Inmates Welfare and Development
Chapter 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction
Threading through the history of civilization, the pursuit for punishment of lawbreakers was almost as bloody as the crime committed. Punishment then was prompt and pitiless. Although there were penitentiaries in the annals of early correctional system, its characteristics just redo the barbaric practices of treating erring individuals. In this contemporary society when an authority places a person behind bars, it has acknowledged a moral obligation to change that person before he or she goes back to mainstream of society. Social scientist now believed that it is not right for the society to punish criminals without helping them to become productive and law-abiding citizens, otherwise, they may have no choice but to turn to crime again. Modern day penologists envisage that jails and prisons are not anymore place for punishment but a venue for corrections, nor mere walled quadra but quads for rehabilitation. For them, prison today are like hospital, where socially ill patients are diagnosed and administered. The new concept of rehabilitation is being introduced through various rehabilitative programs purposely to change the behavior of prisoners in order to protect the society in general and to help them in particular. Historically, the public turned its attention to prisons only in times of crisis, when news tends to focus on issues of the moment, without reference to everyday realities of prison management. The growing professionalization of the entire field of corrections means that correction work is an increasingly attractive career choice. Yet the public is largely unaware to this as we failed to get our story across and that people already think they know what they need to know about prisons. Unfortunately, these pubic opinions are largely collage of inaccurate, outdated impressions gathered from sensationalistic accounts of escapes and riots, or from movies. Woven from bits and pieces of
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction
Threading through the history of civilization, the pursuit for punishment of lawbreakers was almost as bloody as the crime committed. Punishment then was prompt and pitiless. Although there were penitentiaries in the annals of early correctional system, its characteristics just redo the barbaric practices of treating erring individuals. In this contemporary society when an authority places a person behind bars, it has acknowledged a moral obligation to change that person before he or she goes back to mainstream of society. Social scientist now believed that it is not right for the society to punish criminals without helping them to become productive and law-abiding citizens, otherwise, they may have no choice but to turn to crime again. Modern day penologists envisage that jails and prisons are not anymore place for punishment but a venue for corrections, nor mere walled quadra but quads for rehabilitation. For them, prison today are like hospital, where socially ill patients are diagnosed and administered. The new concept of rehabilitation is being introduced through various rehabilitative programs purposely to change the behavior of prisoners in order to protect the society in general and to help them in particular. Historically, the public turned its attention to prisons only in times of crisis, when news tends to focus on issues of the moment, without reference to everyday realities of prison management. The growing professionalization of the entire field of corrections means that correction work is an increasingly attractive career choice. Yet the public is largely unaware to this as we failed to get our story across and that people already think they know what they need to know about prisons. Unfortunately, these pubic opinions are largely collage of inaccurate, outdated impressions gathered from sensationalistic accounts of escapes and riots, or from movies. Woven from bits and pieces of