When an individual is sent to prison, the goal is to receive proper treatment to stay out of the system once released back into their community. Sadly, that is not typically the case. As of 2023, an estimated 708,000 people are incarcerated, with a national average of 44% recidivism rate within the first three years of release (Voter, 2023). This statistic is one of the highest in the world for recidivism rates. The definition of a prison is “to protect society by removing a criminal from the streets and to punish the criminal for their anti-social behavior (Coutts et al., 2017, p. 311). Where in this definition is any guidance provided to the criminal to understand why their behaviors are anti-social? It has been proven many times over that our prison systems are not working, yet nothing is being done to come up with a solution. How can we, as a society, expect criminals to be rehabilitated when many prison systems treat the inmates inhumanely and learn further anti-social behaviors behind the prison walls? Punishment is the individual being removed from society and losing their freedom. When released, we continue to punish them and the community they are released back into by not providing them with the appropriate tools to function and contribute to society. We cannot expect them to change without providing them with a change agent.
There has been a large misconception for decades that with harsher punishments, the inmate will be reformed and ready to be released into society. Around the 1970s, there was a focus on prison rehabilitation until this took a backseat to being “tough on crime” (Benson, 2023). Before this shift, inmates were encouraged and supported in developing occupational skills and resolving the psychological struggles that may be holding them back from their full potential. This could be issues such as substance abuse or anger that they never learned to control. Now, prison systems are focused on punishment as their primary means compared to any rehabilitation services to help them. This approach has created an expansive growth in the prison population and has had little to no effect on the crime rates decreasing by “being tough on crime.” This new focus has resulted in more than two million individuals being incarcerated, equivalent to one in every one hundred and forty-two people. This also has increased the number of released prisoners on parole or probation to roughly four to five million people (Benson, 2023).
Therapeutic Communities are a “holistic residential environment designed to promote the personal growth and development of the residents” (Coutts et al., 2017, p. 315). Maxwell Jones is the person most closely associated with these communities and developed multiple principles that these communities are based on. These Therapeutic communities are aimed at bringing about changes in the prisoner’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that will help them live a healthier, happier, and adaptive lifestyle when they are released and return to their community (Coutts et al., 2017, p. 315). When these programs are brought into correctional facilities, additional tools are added to help rehabilitate the inmate, such as building relationships and victim awareness and helping them develop strategies that will help them not re-offend and be successful. These are programs unlike any other because the role of the community is a primary factor that promotes social and psychological change (Coutts et al., 2017, p. 316). The way the programs are set up now, the inmates are thoroughly screened before being admitted to the program so as not to cause any disruption. However, these programs should be adjusted so that all inmates who will eventually be released back into society can participate and learn new skills for a successful release.
Each year, more than a trillion dollars of the taxpayer’s money, five percent of our gross domestic product, is used towards recidivism (Voter, 2023). Instead of continuing the vicious cycle of releasing prisoners who received no rehabilitation or treatments and setting them up to be re-incarcerated, this money could be used to revamp our prison systems and help the inmates learn different occupational and life skills. All fifty states have struggled with recidivism rates when there is a clear answer that could help with this issue across the board. In 1977, The Stay’n Out program was implemented as a 12-month program for male and female prisoners who struggle with substance abuse problems. The program consisted of three stages: induction, treatment, and consolidation of treatment gains and reentry into the community (Coutts et al., 2017, pp. 316-317). Three years after their release, only 26.9% of this treatment group recidivated, compared to the upwards of 40% of inmates who did not receive any rehabilitation or drug therapy.
The answer is right in front of us about what we can do to help with the recidivism rates and support our inmates in overcoming their struggles and becoming productive and happy members of society. It is not just to punish someone for their crime. More often than not, they are treated inhumanely and do not receive any treatment, simply their punishment for the crime committed. These Therapeutic communities do not take away from the fact that they committed a crime, but it does help them to understand why what they did was wrong and what they need to do to overcome the issues that caused them to commit the crime in the first place. We need to bring humanity into our prison systems instead of just punishing them and expecting them to learn why their actions are not socially acceptable.
Benson, E. (2023, July 1). Rehabilitate of Punish? American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug03/rehab
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2017). Applied Social Psychology (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
(n.d.). Recidivism by State. Wise Voter. https://wisevoter.com/state-rankings/recidivism-rates-by-state/