In the New York Times article “Let Prisoner’s Take College Courses”, John Lennon tells us that prisons should implement online educational programs for inmates. In this article, Lennon explains how workers in prisons support and allow the use of TVs in cells since TVs reduce the amount of time to create violence. The televisions, though, could have a much better use with programs such as free, pre-recorded university lectures to help the prisoners learn. Years ago, educational programs for inmates were a key component within prisons, but now legislation has overturned the ability for prisoners to learn. Currently, few prisoners are able to partake in these classes, even though participating prisoners are rarely reincarcerated. Governor Andrew …show more content…
When prisoners are released, they have two options. They can resume their previous lives of illegal acts, or they can take their second chance at life and create a better life for themselves. In Tracy Mumford’s article, “Should Prisoners Have Access To A College Education?”, Lois Davis, a senior policy researcher at the RAND corporation, is quoted, saying, “It's important for people to understand that when we send people to prison, they don't stay there forever. 95 percent of individuals eventually come back to your community...part of it is thinking about: What do we ultimately want them to do when they come out?" In other words, it isn’t a matter of will they get out, but rather, when they get out and what is it that we want them to be spending their time on. If they have a legal source of income and a job that will keep them occupied, they won’t need to chase after unlawful careers that only cause chaos and end them right back in prison. Instead, we should be trying to teach them skills that will help them contribute positively to their communities. Whether that is caring for their families, doing service activities within their neighborhoods, or working diligently in their jobs. Mark, a previous prisoner, gives testimony to this. After being locked up for using illegal substances, Mark had decidedly chosen that he wouldn’t allow his time in incarceration to change the way he was living, but Mark was given the opportunity to take some college education courses while still in prison, which changed his outlook on life. He says, "Here I am 5 years later, and I'll be graduating with a bachelor's of science in mechanical engineering come next fall. I'm a contributing member of society now." (Davis) His education offered him a second chance to someday work in an honorable job that pays a decent salary instead of returning to his past ideals. The question we have to ask
Correctional program writing nowadays is at a level of efficiency that surpasses earlier outlooks. In territories all over the United States, there are several curriculums that use research-based curriculums to teach, instruct, and inspire inmates. Disappeared are the days of hit-or-miss execution of curriculums that seemed good, but over and over again just occupied time for the inmates. The previous evolution happened for several reasons (Corrections Today, 2010). The largest wake-up demands was the claim composed around thirty years ago. The statement made was not anything works in corrections systems, mainly rehabilitation. Even though this commonly revealed report was taken from its context, it did in detail carry some notice to the mystery that several penitentiaries were not operational as change
In the argument “Let Prisoners Take College Courses,” by John J. Lennon he argues that when incarcerated, if the college programs are not made readily available for more than the select few inmates, they will see more returns than they would otherwise. To support his thesis Lennon uses a variety of researched facts. For example: “In Sing Sing, for example, one forward-thinking educational program, launched in 1998, has a recidivism rate of less than 2 percent”(Lennon, 1). This shows that Lennon did some research on the subject. In addition to the factual evidence presented in the argument, Lennon uses two different human experiences. One experience was of himself. He spoke of what put him in jail and how being able to take college courses helped him discover who he was and feel remorse for his bad decisions of his past.
Many changes are made inside the justice system, but very few have damaged the integrity of the system and the futures of citizens and prisoners. Although the story seems to focus more on lockdown, Hopkins clearly identifies the damaging change from rehabilitation in prisons to a strategy of locking up and containing the prisoners. To the writer, and furthermore the reader, the adjustment represented a failure to value lives. “More than 600,000- about 3 times what it was when I entered prison, sixteen years ago. In the resulting expansion of the nation’s prison systems, authorities have tended to dispense with much of the rehabilitative programming once prevalent in America’s penal institutions” (Hopkins 157). The new blueprint to lock every offender in prison for extended sentencing leads to an influx in incarcerated people. With each new person
Zimbardo, P. G. (2007). Revisiting the Sanford Prison Experiment: A lesson in the power of
Throughout his novel, Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire, author and professor Robert Perkinson outlines the three current dominant purposes of prison. The first, punishment, is the act of disciplining offenders in an effort to prevent them from recommitting a particular crime. Harsh punishment encourages prisoners to behave because many will not want to face the consequences of further incarceration. While the purpose of punishment is often denounced, many do agree that prison should continue to be used as a means of protecting law-abiding citizens from violent offenders. The isolation of inmates, prison’s second purpose, exists to protect the public. Rehabilitation is currently the third purpose of prison. Rehabilitation is considered successful when a prisoner does n...
When trying to find themselves in society, jobs may be hard to come by. When prisoners find a jobs, they are usually work in jobs that one doesn’t not have to have a high-skill set, such as food service, wholesale, and maintenance and repair. The number one reason why prisoners end up back in jail is not the lack of job opportunities but perceiving that job when returning home. “Service providers and community leaders consider employment to be the primary factor in a successful reentry” (Casey 2). When the lack of job opportunities come prisoners may feel the need to break the law and return to life of crime because they cannot support themselves, so they may turn to selling drugs to make a quick buck. Selling drugs is not an alternative for not being able to find a job, especially when one has just got out of prison because if they get caught they will find themselves back in jail. Recidivism is a topic that I do not believe anyone could solve, it is hard to comprehend why people look back to crime again and again after they get caught the first time. In the article Parole and Prison Reentry in the United States author talks about how when prisoners or released they usually end up failing to finish their release sentence and out of the parolees how many return back to prison when she states, “About half of parolees fail to complete parole successfully and their returns to prison represent about a third of
The book titled Beyond Bars: Rejoining Society After Prison offers invaluable lessons of how both men and women may successfully depart prison and return to society. The book was written by Jeffrey Ross and Stephen Richards, both of whom are college professors and criminal justice experts. The population of prisons across the United States has increased dramatically in recent decades despite overall crime rates decreasing during the same time period. Approximately seven million American people are in some form of correctional custody. Between the years1980 and 2000, America’s prison population increased by 500 percent. During the same time period, the number of prisons grew by 300 percent (Ross and Richards, xii). Close to 50 percent of people admitted to confinement have previously served time, exemplifying that the criminal justice system “recycles” inmates through the system again and again (Ross and Richards, xi). Unfortunately, many convicts simply do not remember how to or are ill-equipped to return to society once their sentence ends. Ross and Richards, through their valuable lessons within their book, seek to lessen the problems that ex-prisoners may face when released from prison.
People that do not take advantage of educational and career guidance programs will come out of prison having a hard time. In the article by Simmons both men had stable jobs and that was because they really wanted to change. Criminals only go back to their ways because there is no other option, when they can find a stable legal income there is no reason to further any criminal acts. Many people come out of prison never wanting to go back and I believe those are the people that I will be able to find that do not recidivate. Even though there may be stable income for these people, it may not be the highest paying job or most education heavy career. These people may get by with minimum wage but there is no luxury or lavishness. I also believe that there are many people that do not take any actions and these are the people that you will hear stories about that are not able to find jobs so they go back to doing what they know how. These people will have a high likeliness of being arrested a second time and will be taken out of society once
During the early half of the 19th century, there were two new models of prisons being built in the United States. Along with the new styles of prisons being constructed, two new styles of correctional systems were developed, the Pennsylvania system, and the Auburn, New York system (Mays & Winfree, 2009). Although the designs of the actual prisons were dramatically different, both systems shared similar ideals, with regards to how inmates should spend their days. Ultimately, the Auburn system prevailed as the more popular system of corrections in the United States, with some of the system’s correctional philosophies being used well into the 20th century (Mays & Winfree, 2009). Before discussing the actual philosophies, which were used to manage the inmates in each system, we should first look at the difference in the design of the prisons used in each system.
Studies have shown that in-prison education curriculums decrease recidivism while refining the eminence of life. However, majority of extra-curricular classes in prison have been eradicated, additional customs of job preparation have reduced, and access to exercise equipment and educational resources such as books is progressively limited. In the past five years the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) has increased the federal budget by 40 per cent to $2.6 billion, majority bei...
Dodd, Vikram. "Why Prison Education?." . Prison Studies Project, Teaching Research Outreach, 16 Jan. 2010. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. .
It is to no surprise that America has a large amount of its people incarcerated for a variety of reasons. One must ask themselves how we can help these individuals get back on track. The answer is America’s most powerful weapon known to man; an education. This is an annotated bibliography for research on the effects of education in the prison system and if these effects are worth taxpayer’s money.
While offering an inmate for a second chance to improve while they are incarcerated. Statistics indicate that when prisoners are provided an education, they gain higher self-esteem and recidivism rates drop dramatically. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, it states that there is an "inverse relationship between recidivism rates and education". The reason as to why there a inverse relationship between one another is because the higher the level of education a prisoner has received ,the less likely he or she is to return to prison. For instance, studies indicate that approximately between 50 to 65 percent of inmates who has receive higher education experience a better rate of employment than those who don 't participate in education programs. The cost-benefit of reducing recidivism will begin to be realized immediately. If we consider the additional benefit of these individuals obtaining work, paying taxes, and contributing to the general economy, and the prevention of costs to victims of crime and the criminal justice system, the benefits are significantly greater". In addition, while individuals are in prison receiving an higher education, it would put towards these cause because they would have job to repay for the debt they have
2nd ed. of the book. USA: Penguin Books, Ltd. [Accessed 01 January 2014]. The Prison Reform Trust.
This paper explores the benefits provided by educational programs in jails and prisons. Included are the reasons inmates need education in order to successfully reenter society once they are released and use the knowledge and skills they have learned to obtain a job in order to support themselves and their families. Also examined in the paper are the financial benefits of incorporating educational programs instead of cutting them, as well as the effect these programs play on the recidivism rate. Lastly is a focus on understanding the importance of education and job training, even though the recipients are criminals.