Introduction
A prison is where the people who have committed criminal offenses are taken and punished for the crimes committed as they wait for their trials. The purpose of prison is to assist in reducing the rate of offenses committed in society and lessen daily crimes. Instead, it is an environment where individuals live in substandard circumstances and are treated like animals (Thompson 217). Additionally, it is where few individuals advance personally and are not constructive. Nevertheless, the vast majority of inmates who are released from jail ultimately return. As an illustration, I am acquainted with someone who has spent ten of the eighteen years of my life in and out of prison. This is something that I am not proud of, but the situation never stopped him from committing some other crimes after his life in prison.
Main Body
This criminology course section has helped me understand the development of American prisons and the corrective contributions that have been put in place together with the corrective models. People would assume that convicts have learned their lesson after serving years in jail. Prisoners who adhere to the rules are more likely to make poor judgments outside prison. The good prisoner were ill-equipped to make wise judgments when they returned to society since all they had learned there was how to obey rules and sit on their bunk. The rationale is that if an offender does not make the most of their workday or leisure day, it prevents them from building relationships and essential skills, making it difficult to adapt when they get out of prison.
With the increase in incarceration, American punishment policy underwent a revolution that mirrored profound societal changes and a shift in mentality. The nation underwent a turbulent political and economic transformation, quickly growing crime rates and shifting racial relations. Criminal justice politics have significantly changed in favor of harsh punishment (Thompson 221). Lawmakers passed laws to lock up and imprison more individuals. These adjustments show a change in the relative importance of conflicting values. The fundamental objective of punishment has shifted from rehabilitation to fair deserts, or retribution, in public and professional discourses.
The majority of American prisons are segregated, secluded institutions that are tough to visit and scientifically analyze. It is challenging to make broad generalizations regarding the effects of incarceration since they differ greatly in their organizational structures and operational methods. However, it is feasible to outline some of the most important changes that happened throughout the time of rising imprisonment rates and impacted the nature of prison life (Thompson 223). We examine these tendencies, acknowledge the absence of national and uniform statistics, and describe elements of incarceration that have undergone scientific investigation. Although the characteristics and outcomes of particular prisons can vary greatly, a confluence of six different but connected trends that occurred in the United States over the past decades have had a massive effect on the conditions of confinement in many of the nation’s correctional facilities. Such trends encompass rising rates of prison overcrowding, sizable percentages of inmates suffering from mental illness, and a more racially and culturally diverse prison population.
The safety of the community and increased risks of recidivism make reintegration the most challenging problem for the correctional system. Reintegration is the process through which a criminal is ready to leave jail and return safely to society as a law-abiding citizen. A life of incarceration is a process in which people are cut off from society and made to live in a foreclosed setting where antisocial values are prevalent. Another method for comprehending criminal behavior, criminogenic needs, and therapy to lessen criminal conduct is the RNR (Risk, Needs, and Responsivity) model. To properly analyze the static and dynamic danger posed by offenders, the RNR model is required. However, there are several criticisms of the RNR model, such as how it views each individual as a danger and disregards the difficulty of the re-entry problem. Restorative justice is a different strategy that helps mend ties between the victim, the community, and the offender via encounters.
In Canada, the Circle of Support and Accountability (CoSA) concept uses a team of skilled volunteers to assist sexual offenders with reintegration into society following their release from prison. Offenders may have trouble getting employment since many businesses do not want any ex-offenders working for them. Because they believed they were criminals or part of gangs, offenders could not interact with their mates (Thompson 219). Due to damaged relationships and the impact of parental imprisonment on children, a family reunion is another obstacle following release from jail. After being released from jail, those with felonies have housing issues since landlords won’t rent. After the conviction, certain people may lose their civil rights.
Conclusion
The primary objectives of a prison sentence or other analogous measures that deny a person of their liberty are to protect society from crime and to reduce recidivism, to name a few of the lessons I learned in this course portion. These objectives can only be achieved by making the most of the time spent in jail to ensure, as much as is practical, the effective reintegration of such persons into society following their release, enabling them to live law-abiding and financially independent lives. To do this, prison administrations and other competent authorities should offer corrective, moral, spiritual, social, health, and sports-related assistance, appropriate and easily accessible education, job training, and other assistance.
Work Cited
Thompson, Nathan. “Dealing with radicalization in corrective services.” Prisons and Community Corrections, 2020, pp. 216-229.