The Pros And Cons Of American Prison Rehabilitation

It is thought that the American prison system puts too much of an emphasis on the cruel, strict punishment of inmates rather than determining the right ways to rehabilitate them so that they can be fit to go back into society. Part of this rehabilitation process is determining why one commits a crime through studies of nature vs. nurture, biosocial factors, head injury, mental health problems or a combination. By figuring out the cause, sentences can be given with a focus on a specific topic. For example, someone with a diagnosed mental disorder can be sent to a mental institution where they can go through therapy and get medication rather than being sent to a prison. However, judges are quicker to sentence the accused to serve their time

It was found that as an attempt to decrease taxes, the number of beds in psychiatric wards were decreased greatly, yet the money gets payed to the prison system instead (Haglage, 2014). When the mentally ill are sentenced to prison, they receive no medication or therapy and have no way of getting the treatment they need. If the mentally ill don’t receive the proper treatment, there's an increased chance of recidivism, which is the tendency to reoffend. Psychiatrist, Dr. E. Fuller Torrey visited a prison and found a bipolar, schizophrenic inmate that had gone without treatment and commited a nonviolent crime that landed him in jail. Instead of receiving therapy, he sat in a jail cell, hallucinating. These types of situations show that the penal system is not focused on helping the inmates, only punishing them. If the mentally ill don’t get help, they’ll never be fit to be put back into society. This cycle of crime, punishment, release, will not stop until rehabilitation replaces

The mentally ill homeless often commit nonviolent crimes with the motive of wanting to go to jail just so they can be fed and housed. The lack of resources in the United States is appalling considering the large sum of money funding jails when it could be creating resources for the mentally ill. Even if a prison wants someone to get psychiatric treatment, there are many things, depending on the state, put in place by the government that stops that from happening. “In 31 states, a provision is in place allowing the prison to forego consent and offer involuntary treatment that includes medicine and therapy” (Haglage, 2014). However in the states that don’t have these laws in place, a court order and approval through a committee are often needed before help can be given (Haglage, 2014). The process is complicated and riddled with legal requirements so most often prisons don’t bother trying to get the inmates the help they