Introduction
There are various reasons for prison to exist. Brown (2012) viewed prison as a place where society is protected against criminals. A prison’s main aim is to rehabilitate people who happen to be destructive to the economy. By rehabilitating them, the prison offers the inmates various opportunities to learn skills. By learning these skills they may avoid having bad traits, become law-abiding citizens and thus contribute to the growth of an economy.
Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation is important to make criminals less harmful and productive. This is one of the purposes of prisons, especially for young adults. In prisons, the young people are taught to be responsible for their deeds in the society they live in, they are taught to avoid their involvement in criminal activities (Brown, 2012). The inmates rehabilitated attend some programs which offer educational services. Apart from learning, they develop emotionally, spiritually, and psychologically.
The educational programs available in the prison are of great benefit to the inmates and the society as such. The inmates acquire various skills in masonry, carpentry, and construction. All these skills make the inmates productive thus contributing to the growth of an economy.
Punish
A prison is supposed to be designed in such a way that the harsh conditions in it should be a form of punishment for inmates. However, in most prisons this is not the case because they eat three meals a day and the majority of prisoners watch television. However, the seclusion from their families and restriction of movement is quite sufficient punishments for them. Lack of freedom to call whenever they want, play games, go out or have leisure time is also a perfect punishment for prisoners. There are other forms of punishment where some inmates get strokes of canes. They are also given heavy work by the police wardens (Muncie, 2001).
Prisons are supposed to reduce and eliminate crimes in society. They prevent people from committing crimes for fear of going back to prisons (Muncie, 2001). Reducing crimes is supposed to be the main reason for running the prison. Despite this, the inmates should be protected from abuse by their counterparts. The abuse includes rape, beatings, and killings.
References
Brown, M. (2012). Imprisonment and detention in Marmo, M., de Lint, W. and Palmer, D., Crime and Justice. Sydney: A Guide to Criminology Law Book Co.
Muncie, J. (2001). Prison Histories: Reform, Repression and Rehabilitation in McLaughlin.London: Open University.