In Conclusion

After learning all of this statistics on prisoners, Americans should come together and try to bring about a change. Changing the prison systems would do great things for society, as previously mentioned. Prison reform could lower incarceration rates, change and/or save people’s lives, and lower the crime rate. Just think of how much better of a country this could be. Imagine having a new statistic where America’s incarceration rates are the lowest in the world, instead of what they are now, which is the highest!

 After hearing all these statistics, how can anyone think are prison system does not need to be reformed? I believe that most jails and prisons focus on punishment for the crime committed. The focus needs to be switched to rehabilitation. This could be accomplished by having tons of different programs available to inmates depending on their individual situations; intensive individual and group therapy sessions, Integration back into society programs, drug rehabilitation, parenting classes, career finding programs, anger management therapy, many different types of animal therapy, keeping in contact with loved ones programs (for inmates who need help reaching out to loved ones who they are no longer in contact with). Studies have shown that "inmates who maintain contact with family and friends in the outside world are less likely to be convicted of further crimes and usually have an easier reintegration period back into society.” Before we can do these things though, we need to better understand why re-incarceration keeps happening. We could do that by conducting research studies on the inmate population.

                There are multiple reasons why i believe the prison system is failing. One of these reasons is that major populations of inmates have mental health problems that are not being addressed or accounted for. Not only disorders like schizophrenia, manic depression, and PTSD but also issues with substance abuse. One argument to treating substance abusers in jail is that that are being detoxed already by their extended stay in the facility. But detox is not the only part of recovery from substance abuse. There are many steps including therapy and AA. Without all of these steps being met, the abuser will have a high risk of relapsing upon release from jail. This will heighten their chance of returning to prison. Even inmates with no diagnosable condition can greatly benefit from counseling. “Thirty-one percent of jail inmates had grown up with a parent or guardian who abused alcohol or drugs. About twelve percent had lived in a foster home or institution. Forty-six percent had a family member who had been incarcerated. More than 50% of the women in jail said they had been physically or sexually abused in the past, compared to more than 10% of the men." Inmates who fit into these statistics would also greatly benefit from counseling.

  As reported on BBCRadio 4 on 2 September 2005, the recidivism rates for released prisoners in the United States of America were 60%. The recidivism rates of criminals who commit specific crimes are even higher. People who were convicted of robbery, for example, had rearrest rates of 70%. Another shocking stat is from 1994, 37% of juveniles adjudicated delinquents were committed to a correctional facility as an adult. I could not find more recent data, but I would assume it’s risen,just as the incarceration rates have. 60% of young adults who were convicted of violent crimes reported having committed serious violent offenses had committed similar acts before age 18. Only 34.4% of criminals are first-time, non-violent offenders. (BJS) And to top it off many prisons are operating with an overpopulated inmate population, which the prison is not equipt to deal with.      

             

  I have personally known many people that are part of these statistics. I have had many in depth conversations with these individuals about why they feel the prison system had failed them. I have seen these people return to prison over and over again, regardless of how admit they to never go back. It has been proven that a majority of people, who have been in prison more than twice, will continue to be in and out of prison their whole lives. If we could correct their individuals issues while they were still young and in the beginning of there incarceration patterns, i believe that so many problems could be resolved. We could save these individuals lives, greatly lower incarceration rates, and lower crime rates.

      "The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world. At year-end 2009 it was 743 adults incarcerated per 100,000 population."(BJS) Russia has the second highest at around 500 per 100,000. This static should be cause enough to have Americans wanting to know why! Isn’t America supposed to be the land of the free? I believe that statement and the incarceration statistics contradict each other. But this, believe it or not is not my main area of concern. The re-incarceration rates in America are what leads me to believe we have a problem that needs to be addressed.

  I will be presenting you with tons of statistics to prove that our prison system is not doing the job that I believe it should be doing. I believe that the job of the prison systems is to help inmates change their lives, understand what they've done and learn how to abide by our laws, instead of just punishing them.  I also believe that the younger we start this rehabilitation process among "criminals" the better it will work.