The Pros And Cons Of Prison Rehabilitation

The very first prison in the United States was formed in 1829. Many conversations have taken place on whether the judicial system should rethink the way that they attempt to rehabilitate prisoners. Although there are many programs that have been made available to inmates, success rates have been known to vary depending on their willingness to participate. Many of the programs include group therapy and are at the inmates discretion as to whether or not they wish to participate, however, solitary confinement is not one of those "rehabilitation" strategies in which a choice is given. It is my belief that individuals who were held in solitary confinement for extended periods of time and are then released from incarceration may come out a greater

Of that forty percent, the majority does not have a high school diploma or a GED. The lack of education and the fact that prisoners have a record hanging over their heads, gives them a much greater fight in societies' eyes upon release to find a job which would pay them a living wage and due to the stigma attached with those who have records, the social shunning makes it more difficult and less likely that they will become a functioning member of society. With these disadvantages and their exposure to harder criminals, it makes one think of the life they had, and/or the life that the other criminal had before they were incarcerated. They want that old lifestyle again; depending on if they believed that it was, in their opinion,

They say to themselves - they will get out of prison and walk the straight and narrow life style. Once they do this, they find that living life outside of prison is not as easy or “good” as they believed it would be. Before they know it, because they're basically walking around with the modern equivalent of a Red A branded on their faces, they are hanging around their old friends and acquaintances, because those are who will accept them as they are. Those familiar faces are comfortable, and do not force them to try to be better, often times encouraging them to return to the patterns of behavior which led them to prison in the first place. With these actions, they start falling into their old lifestyle of whatever it may be. Before they know it, they are committing the same crimes that were committed previously or worse than they had done before. There is an old saying, “look at your five closest friends; you are a blend of the five people to whom you are closest.” In laymen’s terms, if you do not like who you are or what you are doing, find new