Reality of Prison Expectations - Yahoo

Carl ToersBijns,Yahoo! Contributor Network
Apr 15, 2011

How many times have you heard someone stay "prisons don't work, they are failing society." I would suspect this has been said at least a million times over the last few decades as politicians struggle with true realities that their plan implemented about twenty years ago has backfired on them with severe and undue hardships on state and county budgets in maintaining their large and overcrowded penitentiaries. Looking at the funding for these prisons you can tell there is a subliminal message out there that is not often spoken. This hidden message is simply that prisons don't work and don't deter or cut crimes. America incarcerated 25 % of the world's criminals and growing. Although some states are actually reducing their prison populations, others are growing at record rate including the federal government. Lawmakers are afraid that changing prison laws will portray them soft on crime and rather see a state acquire bankruptcy or increased funding than change the way they want to do business regarding incarceration.

This country has resorted to locking up people for crimes that normally do not warrant incarceration in many other countries. Petty crimes and mostly drug related offenses are swelling the halls of these enormously fiscally draining institutions at the taxpayer's expense. Prison budgets have swollen to meet the 3 strikes and you are out rhetoric that has created a tsunami of prisoners sitting inside these dungeons waiting for their time to be up and be released back to society. The ideology that prison changes a person's outlook on life is truly factual but not as intended as a criminal justice student in college would read. Prisons make people better criminals and the changes are very negative and manipulative that creates better skills on how not to get caught the next time you do a crime.

Prison life draws on the human ability to overcome and adapt certain situations and has delivered an outcome not predicted by the judge, the jury or the prosecutor as they sent these men and women to prison to reform them of their criminal behaviors. Prison life is about following these century old cultures that describes an "us versus them" attitude that creates deep chasms of misunderstandings and miscommunication. If you are a residential burglary or a drug addict doing your first time down, you will come out knowing how to boost a car in six seconds or less and make alcohol out of bread, rice, juice, sugar and heat if you are so desperate to drink. You are taught lessons on how to manipulate and intimidate others and how to use a religion preference to get a better meal than the other prisoners.

If someone convicted used marijuana to get high, they will be encouraged to participate in the use of heroin or crack or another substance to get high thus another addiction is grown inside prison where these problems follow them back on the street once released. It is likely they will come back without any support out there thus creating more opportunities to become better and now, lifelong criminals that can sustain life artificially and adequately as they now enjoy three square meals day, free medical and dental, and other benefits homeless people have to struggle just to reach out to for such services.

Prison affects more than the basic comforts in life. It also affects their mentality. Coming into prison with mental disorders and other learning disabilities is a disadvantage to say the least. Prison mental health workers, although some are good with their intentions don't often reach their capability to do any good for such individuals as they are lost in the masses of prisoners that need medication and program treatment compliance to function, cope and survive. Without this assistance or treatment, many die a death one way or another as they either commit suicide or they decompose into a vegetable stage in life where they no longer exist like they did before. Mental illness is a growing illness inside prisons. 25 % or more of prisoners' incarcerated need to be in outpatient programs or state hospitals. This is not happening and therefore, prisons now serve the function of state hospitals but without the treatment. It is estimated that 2 to 3 % of the population is actually addressed, treated and supervised as their masses gather to overwhelm the prison culture and abilities to sustain life. Correctional officers are not trained to recognize suicide tendencies, or even to communicate with these specialized needs offenders and the result is failures after failures of addressing and treating mentally ill inside our default prison state hospitals.

Prisoners' releases after finishing their sentences are judged harshly by society and because they have a criminal record, they are at a big disadvantage that has caused them to be treated different. Acquiring minimum wage employment, they struggle until they give up and decide the struggle is not worth the effort. Although it is true that prisons try to teach new vocational skills and life skills as they serve their time, there are very few employers who will actually hire them. Prison should be a place for containing violent people. Prisons should not be used for those who aren't threats to the community as alternative sentences, fines, curfews; tags could in fact be imposed by judges if their sentencing laws would allow them such discretion.

Now is the time to re-evaluate how prisons are used and funded. Lawmakers and judges should take the lead in turning this trend around and show that America can manage their non-violent and mentally ill offenders outside of prisons and their violent offenders inside of prisons. Remember that time is not on our sides as some politicians who defer any action on this matter presume as the death toll and failure to reform rates inside these American prisons exceed those in countries that enjoy half of the freedoms and public safety standards we have today.

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