Before cheating on his wife of 14 years, before taking the life of his girlfriend, before spending 29 years locked up in the San Quentin State Prison, while living his life in California with his wife and three children, Larry Histon was an ordinary man with a successful career in high tech. Histon is one amongst the 6.9 million adults who are under correctional supervision- about 2.8% of adults (1 of 36) in the U.S. resident population. Although incarceration seems like an asset to society, it is, in fact, the culprit of poverty and many broken relationships. As a result of such a tremendous amount of imprisoned individuals, communities and families nationwide are constantly damaged and impacted negatively.
Due to incarceration, communities nationwide face poverty, preventing payment towards
…show more content…
However, Data shows that the re-arrest rate is 63% and almost half of those with prior convictions are for violent offenses. Most importantly, 59% of recidivists have more than two previous convictions and 43% have more than 3 convictions. American journalist Reihan Salam has argued in a National Review Online that past a certain point in which more of the population have been or are currently in prison, incarceration becomes more destigmatized and crime would actually increase. If the purpose of jail is to punish inmates and prevent them from making the same mistake, how come most of them are reincarcerated? The threat of prison as punishment does not work for the majority of these offenders. Research over the past 10 years has consistently demonstrated that the most effective way to reduce offending, and particularly reoffending is through education, particularly literacy training. Therefore, if a person receives a good education, he/she is most likely to not be imprisoned at one point in their lives.