The Quest to Reform Prison

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Mae hyn yn dod yn naturiol gyda'r anodd i'w ymddangos i'r rhai rydych chi wedi'u hysbysu, wel, mewn ystafell. Ond mae'r ystafell, fel rydych chi'n ei gwybod, yw mewn gwirionedd yn fwy cyfartal. Nid yw'r ystafell a'r ystafell yr un peth. Today's jail is used more as a holding place for people awaiting trial, whereas prison is used for convicted individuals who are serving their sentence. So, before the late 1700s, long-term incarceration wasn't actually generally used for punishment. Much of it came under the category of corporal punishment, which included now-frowned-upon practices such as whipping and branding. Capital punishment was much more widely used, or sometimes you just got fined. Social reformers, politicians, and other influential people believed that the existing forms of punishment weren't effectively deterring crime. In fact, they were concerned that public executions would cause bloodlust and encourage more murders by those who watched them. Prison would separate people from their friends and families for a long period of time, and they believed this would scare civilians into not committing crime. Additionally, there were movements to reform their existing jail systems, which were riddled with violence, corruption, and disease. The need for new forms of punishment alongside the movements to reform jails encouraged the creation of prisons in America. But how are prisons today better than the corrupt jail systems that existed before? In order to investigate, we talked to someone who's had experience working in the criminal justice system. My name is Tien Lin. My last name's L-I-N. I've worked as a deputy district attorney in Santa Clara County for 28 years. As we talk about prison conditions and reintegration, he'll give us some perspective from working inside the justice system. Now come with us as we talk about the hard truth about the reality of our U.S. justice system. This is Shiana. And Hailey. We will be going over prison conditions and discussing over reintegration programs and their effectiveness. When discussing whether or not our system meets its goals, we'll need to uncover what it's like actually living as a convict within the United States justice system. How? By getting a sense of what it's like to be a convict. How? By getting arrested? Not necessarily, but we can step into the reality of what it's like. It seems that violence in prisons has increased. Take Alabama prisons, which have been recorded to have the most violent facilities in the nation. And it's not just Alabama. Although Alabama prisons are heavily understaffed, violent, and subject to all types of uncontrolled abuse and assault, all prisons nationwide are under similar situations. It's devastating. Yeah. The incarcerated are at risk of being beaten, sexually assaulted, and stabbed. The United States justice system talks big about safety, but what about the environment the incarcerated are placed in? Many convicts are denied treatment of physical and mental illnesses, while more than half of all Americans in prisons have a mental illness. While more than half of all Americans in prisons have a mental illness, a major segment of the problem is psychological. If someone is predisposed to criminal behavior, can prisons transform them into well-meaning citizens? Many incarcerated people have the tendency to act impulsively, making it hard for them to interact with other people. If rehabilitation doesn't focus on the psychological aspect, they're much more likely to retain the same tendencies and end up back in prison. But this isn't to say prisons should be abolished and crime should be allowed, but it's important to acknowledge the environment convicts have to endure, and also how it ultimately affects society as a whole. I've always thought, and I think other prosecutors would agree, that when programs are not effective, and or when prisoners choose not to take advantage of programs, because that happens quite often, they actually learn more dangerous skills. They make more dangerous connections while they're in custody, and when they come out, they're more dangerous people. Convicts get released back into society after they serve time, but this doesn't always mean they're totally free. Wait, what do you mean? If they get released from prison, isn't that a good thing? Yeah, you would think so, but the conditions inside a prison can actually heavily affect a person's ability to reintegrate back into society. Yeah, that's horrible. Sharing an 8 feet by 6 feet space, including toilet, sink, and bunk bed, they're constantly living in fear of being attacked. A shocking amount of 60,000 people in the United States are subjected to solitary confinement and often denied visits from family and friends. Being away from living a normal life and having other social interactions beyond the ones in prison, this makes the recidivism rates less shocking. Recidivism is the rate at which people end up in prisons again. I'm not surprised. With 68% being arrested within 3 years of release, and an even higher 83% within 9 years, the process seems cruel, with convicts constantly switching between court and prison. How often do you see the repeat offenders? When I get a case, I look at the criminal records. And by looking at the criminal records, I can see whether this is the first time someone's appearing in the court system or not. And to answer your question, how often do I see that? Too often? Maybe that's a flippant answer, but I see it too often. All this shows that the harsh conditions within prisons do in fact contribute to a person's ability to reintegrate back into society. The idea is called the revolving door phenomenon. It is a situation in which incarcerated people are released back into society, but due to their time in prison, with limited opportunities for reform available, they can't adjust. As a result, more than most end up back in prison. A 2018 study conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found 69% of individuals ages 24 and below, 64% of individuals ages 25 to 39, and 53% of individuals ages 40 and above are released returned to prison after 10 years. All of this indicates the failure of state prisons in preparing convicts for their reentry into society. So how does that reflect on public safety? Well, high recidivism rates impact the safety of society as new crimes are committed by released convicts. This affects both the victims of the new crimes and the formerly incarcerated individuals who are stuck in a vicious cycle bringing them back into the prison system. We can decrease the amount of crimes committed against the public by ensuring released convicts commit fewer crimes after being released. I guess this makes sense as to why previously incarcerated people have such high unemployment rates. It's difficult for them to find stable housing and jobs to survive after being released. And there's evidence that prisons doesn't effectively prepare them for making an honest living again. Wait, what do you mean? Often, they weren't very prepared to begin with, which is usually why they turn to crime in the first place. Around 40% of people in prisons haven't even graduated high school, and around 35% were unemployed before entering prison. This is partially because many of them were engaging in illegal off-the-market activities. I heard about academic rehabilitation. What about those? Don't those programs help convicts still gain academic knowledge and help them reintegrate into society? That is a popular belief. There are strategies administration used called vocational career training. It's like being at school again, which is the point. But the idea is to teach them life and career skills, essentially make up for the education and coaching they didn't get. How do we know if it works? Well, by tracking recidivism rates, this has been shown to be reduced by 30% with the use of remedial high school programs. Like, one program that I thought of in the past that I imagined it would work, but I actually hear that it was not very successful is there was an opportunity for certain levels of incarceration, those people to try to get their GED, general education degrees, while in custody. And you would think that if they're gaining skills, if they're gaining credentials and learning while they're in custody, that's a decent use of time. And, you know, by the time they get out, that might be a way to help them have opportunities outside and maybe have confidence and just, you know, just build them up so that when they get out there, they're not the same people as when they entered. But I understand for whatever reason, those programs, I don't know if they're even available anymore. And if they are available, they're very, very limited. And I think part of it was because they were not that successful. The way I look at it is there's these problems that happen outside of the jails, outside of the prisons. And then once people end up in the system and end up in jails and prisons, we're trying to fix something that's been broken and very deeply broken for years. So you can imagine the difficulty of trying to fix something that was broken outside the system within a system that's not in itself the healthiest system. In my experience, I've seen some limited successes but plenty of failures because in my mind, if you have repeat offenders, people who are going to anger management for the second, third, fourth time or substance abuse treatment for the second, third, fourth time or domestic violence for the second, third, fourth time, when do you consider that to be a successful program? We understand that incarcerated people suffer harsh conditions within prison. So what exactly should the U.S. justice system do to effectively reintegrate incarcerated people into society? One thing that could help is hiring those who are previously incarcerated. That way they are able to get stable jobs and enough money to live without going back into criminal activity. Because you're opening your arms and accepting people that much of society is not willing to accept. Additionally, we can take an example from a country who has successfully made prison reforms. Once, long ago in the 90s, Norway had the same problems we do. Criminals were put through harsh sentences in harsh prisons to scare others from breaking the law. But it wasn't working. Once people got out of the violent, riotous prisons, they usually just went out and committed more crimes. Then they decided the system needed to change. Now, Norway's prisons are more reminiscent than luxury hotels with one prisoner per cell and plenty of amenities and opportunities to learn life skills like yoga and auto-making. The difference is that they're not allowed to leave. They lose their liberty but get to keep their humanity. And it works. Recidivism rates are only 25% in five years. Achieving this level of success would require massive changes to our system. So we have a direction to head in. At the end of the day, our prisons and criminal justice system reflect what's wrong within our society. If we can better take care of the people around us, we can improve the prison system from the outside. If schools can teach effectively, if churches can be welcoming, if families can be loving, if all the healthy components of society really step up their game and reach out to people who have committed crimes and are trying to get back on track, willing to get back on track, if the healthy components of society can step in and do their part well, I think that's the difference that really needs to be made, both before and after incarceration. Thank you for listening. This is the Quest for Forward Prisons. www.questforforwardprisons.org