Prison

Gracey Sorensen
Mr. Mastrionni
Global History 1 Period 3
20 January 2016
The Purpose of Prison, to Rehabilitate or to Punish?
There is no rehabilitation. For some of these prisoners, their backgrounds are so ingrained in
them. This was said by a Special Support Inmate touring a prison to find the truth about how
the US handles the Justice system. He explains how its a vicious cycle. Not a cycle where
rehabilitation is present. Many factors prove how the purpose of the prison systems is far from
helping the criminals to change their ways and rehabilitate before rejoining the everyday society.
The probability for recurrence of crimes from the freed criminals and problems regarding the
classes within their time at prison are just two of the many reasons that show how prisons
purpose is much more for punishment than rehabilitation.
To start off, the probability of repetition for crimes shows there is no clear rehabilitation within
prison systems of the United States today. Lieutenant Vicente Quidachay, Unit Risk Manager at
the Rogelio Sanchez Prison, explained how there is about a 70% recidivism rate for his unit.
This means that over half of the inmates will leave the prison and commit the same crime as
they have in previous years. This does not help to make a society any safer and the communities
the inmates return to any more crime-free. All it adds to is the number of criminal incarceration
continuing to increase. Additionally, the United States has more than two million people in
prisons or jails. This number being much higher than that of any other highly-developed
country. In the most recent study, the nationwide prison recidivism rate was at a shocking 67%.
The extraordinary recidivism rate causes for the higher incarceration rates comparing to other
countries. These numbers clearly depict how the US needs a more effective way of rehabilitating
criminals. The prisons are not a place for rehabilitation as human beings, but it acts solely as a
punishment for what the inmate had already done. However, if prisons were able to rehabilitate
the nationwide recidivism and incarceration rates would become much lower than the recent
studies show today.
Furthermore, the increasing number of inmates and budget issues can be responsible for many
problems regarding classes within the United States justice systems today. As for the classes
taught at the prisons, they are very minimal due to the national funding problems. At the
Sanchez unit, only HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) classes are being offered.
Many people may argue that learning those skills can help them be success once out of prison
and allow them to not return back to their old ways. However, not all prisoners can go into that
business once leaving. Also, without any classes specifically regarding rehabilitation and
acceptance back into the real world, does not help the fact that many prisoners feel the need to
recommit crimes. Additionally, Dr. Theodore Curry, Associate Professor of Sociology at the
University of Texas at El Paso says, Some criminals are just not interested in changing. This
does not make them good candidates, which makes rehabilitation programs a waste of time,
money and effort. The lack of funding is already prominent and to add the factor of wasting
money on trying to rehabilitate unalterable criminals is not a good use of the little funding they
have. The lack of classes is another contribution to the purpose of prison being strictly
punishment and no rehabilitation purpose.
In conclusion, there is an immense number of criminals in the United States prison systems.
Recent studies show that the amount is equivalent to 1 in every 142 US residents. This is a
ratio that is way too large and needs to be lowered to make the United States a safer country. If
the countrys prisons had a greater serve for rehabilitation that number would not be so high.
The lack of rehabilitation and large number of inmates convicted of crimes clearly describe how
the prison systems America has today, are strongly for punishment reasons. Also, the lack of
proper classes and high recidivism rates show how rehabilitated the criminals are when and after
being in the system today. It is distinct that prisons serve more as a punishment for the past
actions made rather than a place for learning and change for the future.

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