There are many “smart on crime” reasons to reinstate prisoners’ eligibility for Pell Grants and other need-based financial aid. When we look at the benefits of educating prisoners, we see reductions in recidivism, increases in pro-social thinking, enhanced post-release employment prospects, and strengthened ties to children and communities. The list goes on and on. Today,
By Christopher Zoukis
The American criminal justice system is broken. Wrongdoers go to prison, become hardened by the experience, only to be released and commit additional crimes, thus reentering the criminal justice system. This cycle of crime, punishment, crime, and then back to punishment is often continual, and it is intergenerational, too. According to the latest RAND Corporation/Correctional Education Association study, 43 percent of released prisoners will recidivate within 3 years of their release from prison. While this is in line with several Pew Center on the States’ studies, the Bureau of Justice Statistics actually states that the 3 year recidivism rate is in the 50th percentile. Something clearly needs to be done.
Prisons: The Warehousing of People
While there are many causes for such a high recidivism — or failure — rate, in my mind they all come down to one component: wrongdoers are going to prison and are not being transformed by the experience. This is quite a sad statement considering that the American taxpayers spend tens of thousands of dollars per year to incarcerate each offender. We are essentially paying for the state to house people in concrete and cinderblock rooms, wait the prescribed time, and then release them as the same people they were when they went in in the first place. To call this ineffectual and simpleminded would be a gross understatement.
A Transformational Experience
What is needed is to manufacture a transformational experience for those Americans we incarcerate. We need to come up with some way to change people, not merely warehouse them. The research indicates that prison education, substance abuse and mental health treatment, as well as a structured reintegration plan, will make all the difference in the world. Let’s take each in turn.
In the criminal justice community, we often hear about recidivism. This is the relapse of former prisoners or probationers back into crime. The reason we focus so much on this topic is that it is a measure of our success. None of us teach prisoners or promote prison reform solely because we find it interesting:
“We must accept the reality that to confine offenders behind walls without trying to change them is an expensive folly with short term benefits — winning battles while losing the war. It is wrong, it is expensive, it is stupid.” United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger Prison education is the most cost-effective method
Drew University is a New Jersey-based theological school that nurtures Christian partnerships and has become active in prisons. Recalling PEW research that states “1 in every 100 persons in the USA is incarcerated,” the founders of the program believe that incarcerated individuals are members of our communities and that it is an issue that must
By Times of Trenton Editorial Board Amid all the reports of diminishing opportunity for urban youth, increasing rates of arrests, and frustrating levels of recidivism is an encouraging program at the Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility in Bordentown. Part of the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons Consortium, the program allows certain
By Allie Bidwell Prison inmates who receive general education or vocational training are far less likely to return to prison and significantly more likely to find employment after their release, according to a new report from a nonprofit global policy think tank. Researchers at the RAND Corporation found through an analysis of past studies, released
David Nagel
Education programs in prison have a massive impact on recidivism. Based on a new meta-analysis, “inmates who participated in correctional education programs had 43 percent lower odds of returning to prison than inmates who did not.” The study also set out to find whether technology-led instruction among inmates could cut down on recidivism as well as teacher-led instruction. The results were positive.
By Richard Foster
Ninety-five percent of American prisoners will be released back into society, based on information from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. One of the most important goals of the criminal justice system is to reduce the likelihood they will recidivate upon release. Research shows that completion of a GED during incarceration reduces the percent of recidivism by approximately five percent. The Bureau also reports that, “As of June 30, 2009, state and federal correctional authorities had jurisdiction over 1,617,478 prisoners.” Five percent would therefore be equivalent to around 80,000 fewer returnees. Image courtesy colletonae.com –
According to the U. S. Department of Justice: FY 2011 Budget Request, “As a result of successful law enforcement policies, the number of criminal suspects appearing in federal court continues to grow, as does the number of individuals ordered detained and ultimately incarcerated.” It goes on to explain that the number of FY 2010 prisoners was 215,000 which is expected to rise approximately 3.2% in FY 2011, up 7,000 to 222,000 inmates.
The notion that an increase in the inmate population represents success could be viewed differently. These 7,000 suspects, detainees, and convicts are representative of two categories of offenders. Some are new to the federal system, yet many are returning after previous incarceration. Whether for parole violations or due to new charges being filed, recidivism rates account for an unnecessarily large proportion of those within our prison system. The Pew Center on the States’ report, State of Recidivism: The Revolving Door of America’s Prisons, April 13, 2011, reports that based on the data received by 41 states on prisoners released in 2004, after three years, the normal time period for these studies, there was a recidivism rate of 43.3%. This represents almost half the inmates released. It is no wonder that the U.S. has the largest percentage of its population incarcerated, as many of those who recidivate end up back in prison. Again, according to the Pew study, “…, incarceration levels had risen to a point where one in 100 American adults was behind bars. A second Pew study the following year added another disturbing dimension to the picture, revealing that one in 31 adults in the United States was either incarcerated or on probation or parole.”
CONTACT: Ms. Alicia Dorsey Senior Marketing Consultant DM Media Group Telephone: 267.428.1303 E-Mail: [email protected] FAMILIAR FACES AGAINST MASS INCARCERATION PROJECT LAUNCHES NATIONAL AWARENESS CAMPAIGN, JOINS 2013 INTERNATIONAL MEN’S DAYM OBSERVANCE PHILADELPHIA, PA (USA) – 19 AUGUST 2013 – According to a working paper issued in June 2013 by the National Bureau of Economic Research (http://www.nber.org) entitled,
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