America's Prisons: What is the Purpose?

In a period of rising crime rates, our correctional facilities serve as a critical beacon in the lines of justice. America only has 4% of the total global population, but over 25% of the world's prisoner population. Put into literal terms means that if America had 20% of the people of the world, then it'll have over 120%of the world's entire prison population, including its (Hoban, 2018). With such high imprisonment rates, it is necessary to ask ourselves then, what is the purpose of putting someone behind bars, and how beneficial is it to society as a whole and also to the individual?

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Our modern prison system can be criticized but, at the same time, remains the only notable way used to punish criminals. In reality, the community at large views prisons as places where the dangerous culprits of the society are isolated from the community. The society also expects that it is in the same place that the incarcerated victims are expected to turn a new leaf, that is a change for the better. However, there are a lot of skeptics who argue that they are largely ineffective and that to some extremes even deteriorates the personality of a prisoner hence undermining their social position. Looking at both perspectives, the analysis of the work of prisons will expounded to show which point of view is more correct.

Here are some of the objectives our prisons are aimed at achieving. Rehabilitation ,This concept rests on the presumption that criminal behavior is brought about by some factor. The theory does not contest that people make choices to break the law, but it does argue that these choices are not automatically a matter of pure" free will".people are not all the same and thus open to express their will but rather adversely. Therefore, individual differences shape how people behave, including whether they are prone to lawbreaking. This practice aims to reform you as a person over a specific duration of time. Another reason is that of incapacitation, which means the restriction of an individual's freedom and liberty that they would typically have with the aim of punishing an offense. Incapacitating an offender means we avert the victim from carrying out crimes in the future because he is removed from the society and restrained., imprisoning those who have a record of jeopardizing others prevents them from further harm.

Criminals are also sent to prison for retribution, which is responding to criminal behavior by punishment of lawbreakers and compensation to the victims; generally, the harshness of the punishment is relative to the seriousness of the crime. The idea that someone who wronged you is locked away somewhere and is paying for it gives us a sense of comfort .they are also sent to prison for deterrence. This means that the threat and severance for individual criminal acts should, in theory, discourage or deter people from committing those acts ( Sundt et al. 2017). An approach intended to dissuade others from following the offender's example.

Fundamentally, it is obligatory to mention that the modern system of criminal justice doesn't have alternatives that could be successfully used to prevent criminals from their misdeeds. it is considered that prisons isolate dangerous criminals for the period in which, according to expectations, is sufficient to straighten their behavior.

The primary factor in determining whether our prisons are effective. In most countries, the statistics show that they are not. In the United States, two in three sixty-eight of people released from prison are rearrested within three years of release, and such is the projection in most countries as well. However, a minority of states are bucking this trend. Norway is serving as a perfect illustration of this; only one in five twenty percent of adults are reconvicted within two years of release. Here are some of the factors that explain the difference.

In most countries, prisons prioritize punishment in forms of limiting access to families, employment, and education. Prisoners can be locked in their cells for most parts of the day. Most of them are overcrowded with high exposure to illegal substances, gangs, and even riots while amenities like food and access to healthcare are basic and below the common standard in most cases. But re-offending rates are lower in prison facilities that reduce the focus on punishment. That in these facilities, prisoners can wear their clothes, cook, live in decent accommodation cells, access some form of employment or paid work, and even receive conjugal visits to emulate the outside world. These prisons prioritize relationships and decorum, aiming at rehabilitating prisoners through beneficial interventions, employment, and education (Hoban, 2018). They are far from being viewed as centers of punishment.

By the time imprisonment rates begun to grow in the early 1970s, the United States had passed through a difficult period of social and political change, Times of growing crime convoyed by a period of political chaos and a philosophical transformation of United States race relations. In the 1960s and 1970s, a change in the political environment provided the setting for a series of policy choices. In almost all levels of government, the sentencing of criminals expanded the use of incarceration in several ways: prison time was progressively necessary for lesser offenses; time served was increased for crimes and offenders. Drug crimes became more policed and punished. The number of arrests and court cases increased in the 1970s (Hoban, 2018). .judges and lawmakers also became harsher in their charging and sentencing. Hence, convicted persons became more likely to serving jail time. Incarceration for drug offenders climbed up in the 1970s, and obligatory prison time became more common in the 1980s.

During the 1980s, most state legislatures passed laws requiring longer prison time. These variations in sentencing reflected an accord that viewed incarceration as a critical instrument for crime control. To this effect, the rise in crime does not necessarily mean an increase of incarcerations, but rather the policy choices made by legislators, to increase the use of prisons and imprisonments significantly as a response to crime and related offenses. Compulsory prison sentences, increased enforcement of drug-related laws, and long sentences did not only contribute to overall high rates of incarceration but also extraordinary rates of incarceration of Latino and black communities. Escalated implementation of drug laws subjected them to new compulsory sentences. As a consequence, the total variances in confinement increased, and imprisonment became common.

Therefore, this shows the extraordinary rise in incarceration rates can be credited to a progressively corrective political climate surrounding criminal justice formed in a period of social change and rising crime. The difference in penal policy over the past four decades may have a wide range of unwanted social costs, and the scale of crime reduction highly unclear. In this respect, it is essential to emphasize that the primary goal of the criminal justice system and the prison system is not only for purposes of punishment of an individual for a crime but somewhat correct the individual's behavior. Prisons are supposed to serve as a means of transforming a criminal to a point where he/she can be integrated into society(Hoban, 2018). however, the results of prisons' work are quite disappointing. In simpler terms, statistics lead us to believe that most criminals who serve imprisonment conditions produce a profound and negative impact on their further social life. In fact, instead of the intended integration to the healthy social life and changing of one's behavior for the better, prison terms lead to the isolation of an individual even after release! .this way, it is fair to say that prisons do not fulfill one of its primary objectives as defined by the modern criminal l justice system, which generally entails the correction and preparation of an individual into a healthy social life.

it is essential to state that prisons can have a negative effect in the sense that , prisons often change the attitude and perception of the society towards an individual .traditionally, society is biased against people who have served terms in jail make it harder to even integrate into the same society. In other words, people are naturally anxious that released persons are a threat to them. Their wellbeing, the result of the public image of prisons and attitude of the mass as former convicts, is clear evidence of the ineffectiveness of prisons in the eye of the public .the society does not feel safe even when a person has already served their term.

To a small extent, our prison system has been successful .there are numerous cases of people who have served prison sentences turning over a new leaf, all thanks to the system. There are also good reasons to think that prisons prevent crime. The experience of imprisonment could and has deterred others from doing similar offenses (Hoban, 2018). .It has also successfully provided opportunities for rehabilitation, such as drug and alcohol treatment, education, or counseling. There is also the fact that if you are already in prison, you cannot commit a crime since you are already restrained from the masses.

When criminals are put in prison, we expect them to learn their lesson and not re-offend. Research and evidence indicate that those who are surrounded by violence, even in prison, are more likely to duplicate what they see. Unquestionably, it seems that prison is potentially more dangerous for those who are there for petty crimes such as theft when sentenced for shorter periods, for example, a month or so, they could learn enough to commit a more violent crime. There is also the issue of prison violence, which not only unsafe for staff but also for other inmates who share a confined space with even more dangerous inmates than themselves making it an unsuitable setting.

Therefore, it is possible to conclude that our prisons are not effective. At any rate, they do not work as intended; they contribute to the growing isolation of an individual from the rest of the society even after serving time. Our prisons and the way we approach punishment should be at the top of the list for an overhaul. Through updating our global tactic to tackling crime, we have every opportunity to make our world a better place for all of us.lawmakers are finally becoming aware of this, but there is a lot of work ahead of us yet. Why not adopt the system from other countries that have the most useful concept of punishment? It will not only keep the crime rate down but also encourage prisoners to keep out of prison after serving their time for good. We must outgrow the perception of prisons not being useful and look to better forms of rehabilitation, which are effective.

References

Hoban, A. C. (2018). Exploratory Research on the Relationship between US Media and the US Prison System.

Sundt, J. L., Dammer, H. R., & Cullen, F. T. (2017). The role of the prison chaplain in rehabilitation. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 35(3-4), 59-86.