Rehabiltation Today

Rehabilitation Today

There are many controversial and difficult problems that plague the society of the United States. The issue of crime is often found at the center of most discussions. This might have something to do with the fat that crime has a very adverse effect on society. Crime is often seen as having a ripple effect on people because the violence has an effect on everyone. Violence kills more people under the age of 65 than do cancer and heart disease, the two illnesses that are mistakenly thought to be the most significant causes of death (Gilligan 527). There are several controversial issues that are often associated with crime: the death penalty, juvenile justice, and prison rehabilitation. These issues are heavily debated y just about everyone, from members of Congress to the average working class person. Of these issues, prison rehabilitation should be considered the most important of all.

Prison rehabilitation is a highly controversial topic. People on both sides have firm beliefs about their positions and have strong evidence and many supporters to back them up. Some groups argue that rehabilitation is a good thing and necessary in today's world. These groups are usually opposed to the death penalty and see rehabilitation as an alternative means. They also believe that successful rehabilitation would reduce the problem of prison overcrowding. This would reduce the amount of money spent on prison care and save the taxpayers millions of dollars. However, other groups have a different view. Groups that usually support the death penalty say that rehabilitation does not work and it is a waste of time. They cite it as another unneeded source of useless government spending. These groups argue that the use of the death penalty should be increased and the process of rehabilitation decreased. In light of this debate, one thing is certain. In a society where prison overcrowding is quickly become a major problem, successful rehabilitation must take place in order for the problem of prison overcrowding to diminish.

Prison overcrowding is a major problem in the United States today. Prisons are so full in some states that they must rely on other states to incarcerate a number of their prisoners. In 1992, the Virginia prison system became so crowded that the state had to pay other states to lock up some of its convicts (Will 531). There are two major reasons for this. One is that more and more people are committing serious crimes. The second is that rehabilitation is simply not working. These two factors are the main cause of most prison overcrowding. Basically, the number of people committing serious crimes which require imprisonment is greater that the amount of criminals being rehabilitated in prison and released back into society. This type of math does not make sense to me. Nor does it make sense to George F. Will who says that. "No matter how fast billions are poured into increasing the supply of cells, the supply of truly dangerous convicts increases faster" (Will 531).

The reason criminals are taken out of society is because it has been proven that they cannot function properly, and pose a danger or threat to other members of society. Most people would agree that the general premise of imprisonment is to show criminals the correct way to function in society and the proper way to abide by the law. In other words, the main goal of a prison is to fix whatever was wrong with a person so that they may become part of society once again. If this process is successful, the person is said to be rehabilitated. But how is this accomplished?

One way is through deterrence. A popular and widely accepted theory is that punishment deters violence. It is thought that if a person is punished for their crime, they will have learned their lesson and will not commit further crimes. However, this belief is disputed by James Gilligan, the former director of mental health for the Massachusetts prison system. Gilligan says that, "There is a widespread misimpression that punishment deters violence" (527). He goes on to say that it has just exactly the opposite effect, "Punishment, far from inhibiting or preventing violence, is the most potent stimulus or cause of violence that we have yet discovered" (527).

Gilligan believes that education is the key to rehabilitation. He reasons that there is one simple solution to his troublesome problem, and that is education. I cannot agree more with Gilligan. Instead of wasting millions of dollars and countless hours of work each year on guarding, housing, and feeding thousands of prisoners, why not give them something they can use, like an education. If we are going to waste the money on caring for inmates with sentences of life without parole, then why can't we spend some of that money to help inmates with as lesser sentence get an education? Often times when inmates are released back into society they have no education, no job skills, and no way to make a living. They often end up back in prison again. If we provided inmates with a means to get an education rather than just letting them sit there, our society would be a lot better off.

Many people, including myself, want to know why this major flaw in the justice system exists, and why nothing has been done to fix it. It is very common today for a dangerous convicted murder or rapist to be released from prison after serving only 3-4 years in prison. However, the space provided by the release of the convicted murder does not stay vacant very long. Sometimes there is a waiting list of prisoners to occupy cells. The space is often filled by a convicted drug dealer or someone guilty or theft or some less dangerous crime. This sounds backwards to me. There is another more alarming side to this story. According to Will "Men 55 and older compromise one of the fastest growing cohorts in the prison population" ( Will 531). Will also says that prisoners of that age group cost an average of two to three times more to imprison, because of the ageing process and the unhealthy nature of prison life (Will 531). So why are we releasing the dangerous, convicted, and non-rehabilitated prisoners back into society and keeping the less dangerous, more expensive, and often senior citizens in prison?

Another way to decrease prison populations and overcrowding is to increase the