Prison Reform Essay

In 1785, American politicians opened the first prison in Massachusetts. Since existing punishments failed to deter crime, social reformers advocated for a better way to reform criminals. The initial purpose of prison was to detain people awaiting their trial and convicts awaiting their punishments. However, the purpose of prison today lies in the retribution and rehabilitation of felons. Imprisonment discourages further criminal behavior and punishes criminals for crimes committed against society. The rehabilitation a prisoner experiences in prison includes providing educational courses, teaching job skills and offering counseling with a psychologist or social worker. The theory of imprisonment embodies the idea that inmates would repent and

Prioritizing prison reform allows for a stronger rehabilitation system that improves prisoners inside detention centers. A study on how Congress can improve public safety showed that all prison reforms “aim to improve public safety… by prioritizing prison space for people convicted of chronic, violent offenses and investing a portion of the savings in community-based strategies to reduce recidivism” (Horowitz). State prison reforms look to improve public safety by prioritizing prison space for convicts and investing savings from taxpayer funds to community-based strategies to reduce the tendencies of a convicted criminal to reoffend. With less criminals reoffending because of priority to rehabilitation in prison space, crime rates decrease, ultimately improving public safety. In addition, prison reform allows the Department of Justice to appropriate funds to support prisoners in their rehabilitation process. The same study recommended that the DOJ allow “appropriate funding for the JRI [Justice Reinvestment Initiative]” to be used to “ support a full range of criminal justice reforms in states, involving adult prisons, jails and pretrial procedures, community supervision systems (probation and parole), and juvenile justice.” With proper funding, the DOJ can improve and support the reform of criminals in states that will help with the rehabilitation of the criminal, creating a less likely percentage that they will reoffend

With so much money being invested in prisons, the government needed to put people in those prisons to occupy the space and not waste money. States were required to keep these prisons open even if there was no one to occupy them. With desperation to fill empty cells, “mandatory minimums” were introduced. This meant that “long prison sentences could be imposed for minor possession of drugs” such as crack, which was a generally less expensive drug and most commonly “found in the possession of Black people” (Bleiker). These mandatory punishments were directed towards poorer communities since the sentence for possession of crack was “much longer and handed down for smaller amounts than in the case of drugs like cocaine, which was generally more expensive and more often found in the possession of white people” (Bleiker). States needed to fill in prisons and they magnified the penalty for petty theft crimes such as possession, specifically for African Americans. The need to put people in jail led to the exaggeration of the punishment of misdemeanors. In addition, “without adequate resources and access to legal aid or help investigating cases, many people charged with crimes face verdicts determined by wealth, not culpability” (Bleiker). People who can’t afford to access resources are most likely to be convicted because they don’t have the representation they could have based on their financial