"At midyear 2000 the nation's prisons and jails incarcerated 1,931,859 persons.
From yearend 1990 to midyear 2000, the rate of incarceration in prison and jail
increased from 1 in every 218 US residents to 1 in every 142."
Before we salute politicians who turned "get tough on criminals" into the national pre-electoral mantra, we should think about what's happening behind those dark prison walls. "The prison industry" is burgeoning in America. More prisoners mean a vast influx of wealth for private prisons. Economic pressure has combined with an increasingly hardnosed attitude toward criminals to create inhumane conditions.
Whether we like it our not, our prisoners are our future. "Three strikes and you're out" notwithstanding, a lot of them are eventually released, after all.
Think about this: A man getting raped in prison is a punchline for those of us on the outside. It's one of those funny little prison things. But brutalized criminals come back to vent their frustration on the society that put them behind bars in the first place.
We can't keep everyone locked up forever. And when you look at conditions behind prison walls, it's a good thing.
Gangs organize and control a lucrative prison drug trade. Prisoners are beaten by guards. Female inmates trade sexual favors for basic necessities.
After years of torture and criminal activity, super-hardened inmates take their newfound skills and contacts into the outside environment. National recidivism rates are terrible, hovering around 70 percent. As awful as prison is, our criminals keep coming back for more.
Some would make prison yet more painful, and more horrific, in order to scare criminals straight. But experience shows that terror is not a terrific teaching tool; history shows us that if you beat a man down, he will rise up twice as angry, and twice as strong.
And while there can be no doubt that aggressive law enforcement, community policing and strict sentencing for violent offenders has accomplished much good, there are ways we could be more humane — and ultimately, much more effective.
 |
Reader Email
"I was a young clinician in 1980 that rediscovered this niacin effect on alcohol and drug addicts..."
More ›
|
|
|
As the criminal justice system has drifted toward mandatory minimums and draconian sentences, punishment has grown in stature even as rehabilitation has been increasingly laughed off as a liberal dream.
We give our prisoners up for dead.
But prison reform can work. A prison environment where practical skills and humane treatment are emphasized over systemic brutality and a law-of-the-jungle approach to human relations can more adequately prepare prisoners for the leap back into society.
Which is why judges should hand down two sentences. What if judges had the discretion to hand out years of conventional prison (punishment) and years of reformatory prison (rehabilitation)? There should be an understanding that good or bad behavior can change the balance of a sentence. And prisoners in the reformatory segment of prison should be taught skills that will allow them to find real jobs upon release.
In an era when minimum sentences and "get tough on crime" are increasingly stripping judges of their discretion and turning them into machines for rubber-stamping jury verdicts, a two-tier sentencing structure would allow for a return to an old-fashioned theory of justice. Once again, we would have strong laws, and flexible human arbiters.
And by teaching rehabilitating inmates things like accounting, computer programming and Web design, we can put prisoners on a road to being full members of society. While trades are important and should still be emphasized, high-tech education can provide a gateway out of a life of crime, and into a stable, well-paying and respectable job.
And to those who sneer at "coddling" violent felons: This program has little to do with compassion and love for those who break the law. The systematic offering of hope and social redemption actively depletes the criminal class, and allows broken individuals a chance to work toward something stable — and away from their own violent pasts.
Punishment and rehabilitation would not need to involve lighter sentences. Murderers could get life behind bars — 100 percent punishment.
But a first-time offender could be shown leeway and given hope for learning skills to show him or her how to contribute to the economy — and society — once released.
One less violent, repeating criminal. One more economic and socially viable American citizen. It's an equation that works for everyone.
E-mail James Norton at jrnorton@flakmag.com.
Rewriting the Sentence