Correction and Rehabilitation

When a person commits a criminal act, what is the best thing to do with them? Just lock them away with other criminals for a few years then release them to the community? Why not do everything possible to give each prisoner new ideas on how to deal with life? Why not provide an environment where they can grow in positive ways? Prisoners should be treated with the idea that they can change, that it is possible for them to become respected members of society.

To allow prisoners to be abused is a failure of society. This should be stopped.

What we should do:

• Ensure the safety of every prisoner from abuse. Separate abusive prisoners and fire abusive guards.
• Tightly control the social environment in prisons to provide nourishment for the soul of prisoners.
• Provide prisoners with opportunities to learn new skills. This is often done but we must make sure it is done universally.
• Being in prison should be multi-layered, beginning with the most confinement and control and gradually stepping up to more privileges based on the progress of the individual, not on arbitrary time periods. The last phase should be some kind of halfway house in the community.

More Information:

• Stop Prisoner Rape
• Yahoo: Correction and Rehabilitation Issues

A Few More Thoughts:

Thinking of prison in mathematical terms

If at time T1 a person guilty of a crime enters confinement with a mental state consisting of a set of attitudes and memories A, and between T1 and T2 when the person is released the person receives experiences B, then at T2 the person will have a mental state consisting of a set of attitudes and memories C. The physical and social environment experienced during confinement B and also the set of attitudes and memories A held at the start of confinement will determine the resulting set of attitudes and memories C held when released.

A + B = C

What set C do we want the person to have?
What set C would be the most beneficial to society?
What set C would be the most beneficial to the person himself?
Should we not want the set C for this person to be similar to that of any other person? That is, should we not want a set C that will allow the person to be a productive member of society?

If we can determine the C we want, then the next step will be to apply experiences B that will result in C.

Of course identifying A will be important. Each type of A will require a different B in order to get to C.

Some people believe a person guilty of a crime should be locked away and forgotten. What C does this type of B result in?