Preview

Prison Only Makes People Worse

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1779 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Prison Only Makes People Worse
Prison has been around in human society for many millions of years. Having someone who disobeyed the law of that village, town, city or country punished in some form of institution, cutting them off from people, is a common concept – a popular and supposedly "needed" process society has taken to doing for many years now has been put under the spotlight many times by many different figures and people in society. The question remains – do prisons only make people worse? Many articles have been published in many journals and newspapers of the western world (mainly the USA, UK and Australia) saying prison only makes a person worse yet no complaint of the method has come from the less liberal eastern societies; this only proves how in countries where the rights of humans are valued such issues as if prisons only make people worse are important and relevant to keeping fair to all.
Punishing criminals by putting them in a correctional facility such as prisons can be successful in repenting the criminal as they would reflect on their own actions, allowing the guilt to make them better people, probably even seeing their own faults through other prisoners. Prisons give criminals a chance to rehabilitate themselves by using the facilities there present such as the counseling and seminars given. The fact that prisons house a lot of criminals that associate with each other has created a "criminal community", an atmosphere where crime inhibits; therefore criminals can only aid each other out to become better "crims", learning the tricks of the trade as well as toughening each other up through the highly abusive nature of the criminals there. Health wise, prisons can highly be dangerous and lethal to the prisoners; such diseases as AIDS from homosexual relationships and drug use is prevalent, as well as male rape, and even female rape, even some become mentally insane. In general however, prisons aren't a nice place to be.
Something not very common in prisons is that some

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Mr. Rideau goes on to say that prison is not a cure-all. He describes what prisons do as “isolating young criminals long enough to them a chance to grow up” (31). I agree when he says that prison should only be a temporary arrangement, not a way of life. As well as many criminals are kept there for too long making the prison a way of life and not allowing them to readjust to normal society. The prisoners are potentially being held hostage longer than rehabilitation should allow.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The corrections leg of the criminal justice system is ineffective because the efforts being made to rehabilitate criminals and keep society safe are failing substantially. The reason for the failure of the current correctional system and all correctional systems in the history of American prisons is an imbalance in the goals of criminal sentencing. These goals can be measured in success by how they were used in the past eras of prison history. Within the 20th century there were 5 prison eras, along with the current prison era. Not one of these eras used a combination of all sentencing goals, leaving an unbalanced and unsuccessful correctional system. It is necessary to review the 20th century prison philosophies, for the purpose of establishing the reasons for failure, in order to create a successful correctional philosophy for the 21st century. A reformation of the correctional system which includes the removal of all non-violent offenders, a period in which violent inmates are in total isolation, intense individual therapy, group therapy, educational and vocational training and a one year probation period after release from prison will allow for criminals to successfully reintegrate into society. In creating a system that balances all five goals of criminal sentencing along with a multiple step program favoring rehabilitation, it is very possible that a balanced and successful correctional system can be formed.…

    • 5792 Words
    • 24 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although criminals should pay the consequence for their behavior, it should not mean that they should live in overcrowded prisons. An example of an overcrowded prison is shown in Angola, where the max occupancy was for 800 prisoners, yet they had 1,750 prisoners (Stern, 2006). When this happens, the lack of resources, space, and training from needed officers increases. Therefore, conditions become hazardous and prisoners and officers are at higher risk for diseases such as HIV and Tuberculosis (Stern, 2006). Although society feels safe with criminals locked up, they have to realize that a main purpose for prisons is to help reduce crime by showing prisoners that breaking the law will cause them the loss of freedom. Ultimately, leading those criminals who are able to get out, to come out with a sense of a change behavior. However, the system that puts these women, men, and young people in overcrowded prisons are not even worried about the criminal. Instead, they keep increasing the definition of “crime”, which increase the number of criminals in an ineffective prison…

    • 1526 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rehabiltaion in prisons

    • 280 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The American prison system was set up to rehabilitate prisoners so they can meld back into society as productive citizens. Instead, factors as high crime rate and of course, mandatory sentences have caused an increased over-crowding of our jails. This has also caused and increased budget deficit. Where is the rehabilitation that once was used, it has all but disappeared in the prison system today.…

    • 280 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    On the other hand punishment is used in order to reprimand a prisoner, this can be used simultaneously with rehabilitation because if one is imprisoned he has the ability to make his stay there as pleasant as given. Then you have inmates who have nothing to lose and act out while in prison, those who do this are punished in ways such as solitary confinement in which…

    • 212 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    To begin, we must first take a look at past forms of correction and see how we went from a rehabilitation model to a punitive model. In the 1930s, rehabilitation was the main objective for incarceration. This was based on the medical model, which “assumed that criminal behavior was caused by social, psychological, or biological deficiencies that required treatment“(Clear, 2015, p.21). In time, this idea of rehabilitation made prisons seem more like hospitals and focused on this healing and treatment of the inmates rather than punishing them. Treatments programs were still limited throughout the nation, but after World War 2 the programs increased greatly.…

    • 104 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In society today, it is commonly known that crime rate has increased dramatically by the years. This is where many of us look for ways to solve such issue. It is the last place anybody would want to be in. but unfortunately we have hundreds of thousands of them, if not millions around the world. Thousands in just the United States, Those are prisons. Just hearing that word makes us think bad things right away. Murder, theft, violence, and everything bad that happens in this world. We live in a world where prisons and jail are very important and almost every country, state, county, or city must have at least one. Prisons now are much more crowded than they were 20 years ago. The number of inmates in just the United States has doubled between the years of 1992 and 2011. The question many of us should ask ourselves is why do we need prisons? Are prisons effective in any way? Are prisons causing economic issues? Are prisoners getting proper treatment while incarcerated?…

    • 1556 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Not only has mass incarceration contributed to the depletion of economic resources, but it has also not been proven as an effective means of lowering crime rates. Our current prison system is designed to spend massive amounts of money on warehousing and punishing criminal to then just place them back into society without any of the tools needed to become a constructive member of society, thus resulting in criminal behavior to reoccur. Multiple studies conducted have manifested that “rehabilitation programs, education, therapy, and vocational training have a profound effect on not only bettering the inmate as an overall individual, but on society as well” (….) because these offenders can now become productive citizens that can add to the community.…

    • 199 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Our country is already spending around 80 billion dollars per year on prisoners and yet, somehow, failing to supply a good education program and rehabilitation system. Our prison system is so fixated on punishing inmates that it fails to apply methods that can help lower the crime rate. Rehabilitation techniques differ according to the nature of the criminal and the type of crime committed. However, if applied, both education programs and rehab techniques have a positive effect on prisoners instead of punishment. Some deserve a second chance, and with education, it can be achieved. If the purpose of prison is punishment alone, prisoners are going to build up so much anger and negativity that they will become only more dangerous to our society when they are…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Most importantly, this approach would contain no punishment. As a society we must punish criminals for the harm they have brought to their victims, be it physical, financial, or emotional, and for the fear they instill in the law-abiding population. A civilized society does not tolerate or condone the victimization of others. Punitive sentences demonstrate this. Secondly, there is no evidence to suggest that a corrections system focused entirely on rehabilitation would deliver a high enough success rate to justify its implementation. In addition, many convicts do not want to be rehabilitated, as is evidenced by the many that refuse to participate in prison…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As research states rehabilitation is good for offenders to give them a trade, get them the counseling and the help that they may need in order to be able to move back into society. And I believe that everyone makes mistakes and learns differently, some people need to learn the hard way and others need a little guidance. Some people commit crimes over and over and never learn from their mistakes no matter what is taught to them or how many people they may receive help from, they just need that physical punishment and not abuse but to be incarcerated with people telling them what to do 24 hours a day, Many of these offenders are ok with that, others make mistakes and want to learn from them and want to make better choices in the future, so I do believe that punishment and rehabilitation can both be effective in the correctional…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Overpopulation In Prison

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages

    It can be agreed, prisons could benefit from proper rehabilitation for inmates, so they can transition into society, without becoming a reoccurring offender. There are different measures that could be taken. If the United States would adopt more of the policies overpopulation and reoccurring offenders could be an issue in the past. If more prisons in the United States could adopt the policies, prisoners would not carry such a burden of a stigma, and begin to be treated as actual members of the…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Us Prison System

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The U.S. prison system was designed for a couple of reasons. First to keep cruel people off the streets and to punish people who have committed a crime. Next is Justice for the victims that have been violated, also revenge. Finally is to detest other crimes by setting sentence minimums and to rehabilitate people so they will come out a better person. It has changed a lot in the past 30 years due to the drug epidemic. 60% of people incarcerated are there for non-violent crimes. America is actually safer now then it was 30 years ago. For the first time more than one in 100 American adults are locked up. One in 36 Hispanic men are incarcerated along with one in 15 blacks. One in 355 white women along with one in 100 black women.…

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Jails and prisons lay at the heart of the Criminal Justice System. These facilities helped forge the concept of rehabilitation. These institutions have changed over time and now reflect the modern methods of housing convicted individuals who need to be reformed or punished.…

    • 1591 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The advantage of sending the entire law breaker into prison is to punish them on their mistake which had done. Besides that, it is also teach them a lesson and alert to the public that punishment to be taken once someone had against the law. For example, the criminal such as raping a women or a girl where the victim are badly harmed on physically and mentally. Those criminal should sent to prison in order to get punishment on their criminal and also alert to public. In addition, prison not only uses to punish the law breaker but also as rehabilitate the law breaker. They will try to help an inmate which has higher chance for reentering the society upon release. This is because some of the law breakers are usually lack of education and unable to get survive by them and happen criminal such as roped and stole. Moreover, sending the law breakers to the prison will make the public become more safety and also reduce the criminal rate in society. Recently, the criminals of killing person are very serious in our society. If the individual do not receive prison time, the repeated crime will grows exponentially.…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays