The Purpose of Prisons

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The Purpose of Prisons In prisons today, rehabilitation, deterrence, incapacitation, and retribution are all elements that provide a justice to society. Prisons effectively do their part in seeing that one if not more of these elements are met and successfully done. If it were not for these elements, than what would a prison be good for? It is highly debated upon whether or not these elements are done properly. It is a fact that these are and a fact that throughout the remainder of time these will be a successful part of prison life. When a prisoner enters a prison, it is presumed he is guilty of the crime he was charged with. If this is true, the prison has an obligation to do something about this criminal. They are not going to let the prisoner sit there and rot. If that were the case, when that prisoner would be released, he would be released the same if not worse a person from when he went in. This is when the prison steps in and starts the rehabilitation process. In prisons, there are many different types of programs that are done to aid in bettering the prisoner. There are meetings they can attend with psychiatrists to allow the prisoner to vent his emotions and allow the psychiatrist to see inside the prisoners mind. This process allows for room to start curing the problem. Maybe it is anger that sparks the actions, or maybe it is something else. Either way the prison is aiding in changing the prisoner's attitude and making them suitable for release in the future. Also there are endless amounts of resources such as books and computers. A prisoner has all the chances to receive a good education through prison schooling. Now or days this is a great thing because prisoners can get jobs when they get out. ... ... middle of paper ... ...lf is done with precision and that is why the prisoners are incapacitated from doing crime anymore. Sometimes society is not pleased with the later three elements. They want justice, and they want it now. Prisons answer the call of justice to society by means of incarceration. They remove criminals from society and lock them away for along time. This makes society feel like they are the law and that there has been justice served. With out prisons, these criminals would just do what they please to innocent people. With the benefit of locking these people up, society can say, "you got what you deserved". This day and age people want results, people want justice to be handed down on the guilty. And prisons incapacitate and deprive liberty from criminals. This serves as retribution for people, especially the people to whom the crimes were committed against.

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