Recidivism In Prison Essay

With recidivism rates soaring, the establishment of prison GED programs should be a standard way to rehabilitate prisoners who’d otherwise have no future outside of bars. An example of a character from the book who would benefit from the GED program would be Crazy Eyes, a hard timer from the FCI, who’d graduated up the hill. Outside of Danbury, Crazy Eyes was a high profile drug dealer and a career criminal experienced with the nuances of prison. If she had the access and willingness to complete the GED program, Crazy Eyes could use the qualification as a step toward reintegrating properly with the outside world. Therefore, by offering GED programs in prison, inmates like Crazy Eyes can be slowly rehabilitated toward permanent freedom while
(Durose 2014) This high recidivism rate indicates how the prison system is failing across America and highlights a fundamental question. How do we stop prisoners from coming back? Traditionally, punishment for crimes was deemed the most effective method, however with the current system in place it clearly doesn’t work. Recently, the latest penal schools of thought have been shifting toward rehabilitating prisoners toward permanent freedom instead of retribution punishment. Education, they argue is the way forward in modern rehabilitation in prisons. Which has been proven according to Aos, Miller, and Drake (2006), “[Who] cited several studies that collectively indicated a 5 percent reduction in inmate recidivism for participants in ‘basic adult education programs’ ”, which further demonstrates the effectiveness of GED programs and their equivalents. Therefore, by establishing GED programs in prisons an inmate like Crazy Eyes could theoretically have a higher chance of staying