Christopher Engel

Communications 227
Dr. Gregory Seigworth
6 November 2016

Prison Reform in America

Motivational speaker Jim Rohn is known for saying, We are the average of the

five people we spend the most time with. Most scholars, as well as most people in

general, believe the peer group you surround yourself with has the biggest affect on ones

personality and life choices. This is why parents are concerned with who their child

spends time with, because they want to make sure their child is surrounding themselves

with friends who are positive influences on them. But what happens when you force

someone to be surrounded by people who are bad influences on them? Will they

cultivate to match the culture they were locked into? Or will they persevere with strong

moral values? This is the concern of many Americans when referring to our nations

prison system. According to Pennsylvanias Secretary of Corrections, John Wetzel, The

rate of recidivism (in our prison systems) is 50%. We spend $80 billion a year on the

prison system and fail half the time.(Gross, 2016). This means if someone is

incarcerated in our nation, they are 50% more likely to return to prison as someone who

has not been through our prison system. Reforming our nations prison system is an issue

that cannot be ignored anymore. The culture of our incarcerated citizens needs to be

restructured fully for the prosperity of our nation.

According to a study published in the early 1990s, prisoners who attend

education programs while they are incarcerated are less likely to return to prison

following their release. (Vacca, 2004). Several states have indicated that recidivism
rates have declined where inmates have received an appropriate education. Teaching

prisoners to perform basic life skills, such as balancing a checkbook, doing their taxes, or

learning how to read critically can be life changing for people who are so accustomed to a

criminal culture. Giving these people these life skills can alter how they see their future

aspirations. Inmates see clear opportunities to improve their capabilities for employment,

meaning theyre less likely to return to taking desperate measures to improve their fiscal

status. Putting inmates through these educational programs also changes the environment

they are accustomed to when housed in a correctional facility. An environment of

education and opportunity would influence most inmates to severely redirect their future,

which would ultimately decrease the rates of recidivism in our nations prison population.

While educating incarcerated citizens would be a huge step in reforming our

prison system, its not the only measure that our nation needs to take. When imprisoning

a citizen, you remove that person from their family, neighborhood, friend circle, and

society in general. In the ancient times of the Greeks, famous philosopher, Socrates, was

charged for opposing popular views of his society. While his initial sentencing was that

of ostracism, Socrates optioned for death. Instead of severing ties with his community,

he decided to drink poison hemlock. He believed nothing was worse than the deprivation

of community and contact with society, even if your views oppose that of societys. A

study done recently by the University of St. Tomas still finds Socrates views to be true

today as well. The people conducting their study for the university followed an

incarcerated 19 year old who received little family contact during that time. While

imprisoned, the teenager explained how the environment of prison had made him become

animalistic as he longed for contact with the outside world (Gross, 2016). Once the
teen was released back into society nothing was the same for him. Lack of contact with

the outside impacted him so much he felt he could no longer connect with the outside

world upon being released. He proceeded to commit another offense after his release to

got back to the environment to which he had grown so accustomed. According to the

relative deprivation theory, individuals participate in collective behavior because they

feel deprived of goods or resources, and therefore they experience social strain. These

strains such as racial discrimination, witnessing violence, physical victimization and

verbal bullying affect adolescent substance use while considering differences according

to racial identification (Steele J.L. 2016). This is an extremely troubling case, especially

when you learn the age of the subject. These occurrences are happening to people at such

a young age that they will not know any other type of lifestyle if our prison system does

not restructure completely.

Mass Incarceration has rapidly increased in the United States over the past thirty

years, consequently spiking our nations poverty rates as well (DeGiorgi, 2015). Could

decarceration lead to fewer people in poverty? According to Defina and Hannon, that is

definitely the case. The scholars argue that had mass incarceration not occurred, poverty

would have decreased by more than 20% or about 2.8 percentage points (Defina and

Hannon, 2013). On a national scale, this translates into several million fewer American

citizens in poverty if mass incarceration was avoided. Bill Clintons Administration was

the single largest contributor to mass incarceration, as his administration called for more

police on the streets and laws that produced long-lasting sentences, some maybe

unintended (DeGiorgi, 2015). The spike in mass incarceration led to many more job

applicants checking off convicted felon boxes on their job applications. It goes without
saying that having a criminal record makes finding a good paying job or career more

difficult to come by. Permanently marked by the stigma of a criminal record, disqualified

from most middle-class jobs by their lack of marketable skills and formal education, and

constantly targeted by pervasive forms of racial stigmatation; hyper criminalized

residents of the inner city find themselves confined into the most precarious sectors of the

secondary labor market (Western 2006, 108-30). Many of these applicants are pushed by

parole systems injunction to find a job, any job into the arms of low-wage employers

eager to hire the most vulnerable workers.

Though finding a job is an uphill battle for convicted felons, paying for bills while

incarcerated is a much more difficult burden. Over 2.7 million children in America are

living with an incarcerated parent (Gross, 2016). Having an incarcerated parent can have

extreme impacts on a childs life, and has been compared to the trauma of the death of

parent. However, the absence of a parents income is almost as devastating as the

absence of that parents presence. This means there are also 2.7 million families that do

not have a stable income to watch over their family. These families are also fiscally

stabbed by state prisons and phone call commission companies. According to recent

study, state prisons make $143 million per year nation wide on phone call commissions.

Due to corporate kick-backs, the price of phone service per minute can amount to a

costly outcome for prisoners and their families. Because free market competition is

greatly lacking in prison phone business causing contracts to be based on higher

commission rather than lower phone rates consumers are the victims of picking up extra

costs, mainly the families of the prisoners.

 Mass Incarceration is also draining the pockets of American taxpayers as well.

The cost of mass incarceration began to be felt by taxpayers in the form of massive

reallocations of funds from welfare, healthcare, education, and other public services

(Beckett and Western, 2001). Furthermore, the rise of our nations for-profit prisons

began to stir controversy across our nation. Is it right to collect a profit over someones

misfortune? As of 2013, more than 90% of the countrys prison population, both state

and federal, was held in government-run facilities, and an increasing share of prisoners

do time in for-profit prisons. While private prison industries and for-profit prisons might

be violating the standards of public morality, researchers say that eliminating money

from prisons wont do much to solve the culture issue of prisons. Rather than

decarceration and suspending private funding to prisons, prison corporations offer other

solutions. These corporations vouch they are able to devise market-friendly strategies

that could facilitate limited reductions in prison population such as: privately run

probation services, halfway houses, electronic monitoring, post-release centers, drug

rehabilitation programs, and others (DeGiorgi, 2015). These alternatives direct our youth

away from our prison system, which ultimately keeps our youth away from a prison

culture. Also, these alternatives can be framed as service towards a community, rather

than punishment from our government.

How did mass incarceration become this out of control? For every 100,000

people in the United States, 693 American citizens are incarcerated. That is drastically

more than any other nation in the world. The United Kingdom is second, incarcerating

only 145 people for every 100,000 citizens (PrisonPolicy.org, 2016). Thirty-eight states

lock up greater portions of their populations than El Salvador, a country that recently
endured a civil war and now has one of the highest homicide rates in the world (The

World Bank, web). How does our country fix this problem, and how did we end up with

sky-rocketing incarceration rates? Jonathon Simon suggests that the structural roots of

mass incarceration are to blame. In order to fix this negative trend, Simon proposes a

model similar to the truth and reconciliation commissions instituted as part of transitional

justice efforts in post-civil war or post-apartheid (Simon, 2014). According to this new

model, officials who led us into mass incarceration, by planning and operating prisons

they knew would deny prisoners basic human rights such as health care - should be

asked to testify about why they felt justified in doing so. There needs to be public

acknowledgement for: social injustice, institutional abuse, and state sanctioned violence

perpetrated by the penal system against a poor and racialized population. The truth and

reconciliation model should also be complimented by a concrete and sustained effort at

redressing the social harms produced by the carceral state. Even the media has had

trouble trying to pierce the public image of prisons. Jennifer Gonnerman, a writer for the

New Yorker, has experienced first hand how difficult it can be to uncover stories in

prisons. She states, Wardens rarely permit journalists into their facilities, and some

states refuse to allow any inmate interviews. She also states that, The walls and razor

wire surrounding prisons seems to serve two purposes: keep inmates in, and everyone

else out.

To combat the issue of mass incarceration, the social movement group known as

Strong Returns was formed. Based out of Massachusetts, Strong Returns is focused on

making prison reform the millennial generations number one issue. Their strategy is to

start sharing stories about the prison system and the prison reform movement. Through
authentic encounters with the prison system and amplified storytelling over campus

networks, Strong Returns hopes to push a Millennial Prison Reform Agenda in 2017.

Strong returns encourages people to share their own personal prison stories, stating

millennial movements grow through viral story telling. But why focus on millenials

spreading the word of prison reform? Well, millennials - a generation free from the

tough on crime debates have attitudes receptive to the project of revitalizing the

rehabilitative mission of prisons. According to strongreturns.org, 58% of millennials

support allowing non-violent drug offenders to seal their criminal records. Also, 41%

believe the criminal justice system is racially biased, compared to the 26% of those over

65. But pushing the prison reform agenda will take more than belief. Following Strong

Returns on social media will allow you to keep up to date with the prison reform agenda.

Strong Returns also advocates holding an on campus event in favor of eliminating mass

incarceration. Consequently, if the turn out on your campus is a rather inspiring, Strong

Returns encourages students to launch on-campus groups hoping they can create a bridge

between your campus and the prison system. If the prison reform agenda is going to be

effective, itll need to be pushed by the millennial generation.

Mass Incarceration is a national issue that cannot be ignored any more. The

culture of America to casually imprison its population has become toxic for our

communities, especially those who arent as fiscally or social stable as most. Increasing

the percentage of incarceration only recycles the culture of our prisons out onto American

streets, poisoning the youth of our country. At this point, incarceration has become a

black hole for American taxpayers who havent seen a decrease in recidivism for quite

sometime. Families are being destroyed. Citizens are being falsely imprisoned at an
alarming rate, which has a negative correlation with our nations poverty rate.

Consequently, this leads to a higher unemployment rate, especially considering the uphill

challenges a former inmate has when searching for a stable career. Our prison system

needs major mending and public attention. If we want to change the culture of our

nation, we need to focus on improving the culture of our prisons and reducing our

recidivism rates. (DeGiorgi, 2015).

 References

Defina, R. & Hannon, L. (2013). The impact of mass incarceration on poverty. Crime

and delinquency 59(4): 562-86.

De Giorgi, A. (2015). Five theses on mass incarceration. Social justice, 42(2), 5-30

Dick, A. J., & Waters, T. (2016). Prison vocational education and policy in the United

States : A Critical Perspective on Evidence-Based Reform. New York: Palgrave

Macmillan.

Gross, Lilie, "Access to communication in united states prisons: reducing recidivism

through expanded communication programs with inmates" (2016). Politics &

government undergraduate theses. Paper 8

Keisling, J. (2016). What do crime victims want from criminal justice reform?. Reason,

48(7), 8.

Mauer, M. (2016). A 20-year maximum for prison sentences. Democracy: a journal of

ideas, (39), 23-25.

Newton, Danielle. (2016). Impact of vocational education and training programs on

recidivism: a systematic review of current experimental evidence. International J

offender their comp criminal. web.

Steele, J. L. (2016). Race and General Strain Theory: Examining the Impact of Racial

Discrimination and Fear on Adolescent Marijuana and Alcohol Use. Substance Use &

Misuse, 51(12), 1637-1648.

Strong Returns . (2016). Millennial Prison Reform. In S. Johnston, P. Davis, & . (Eds.).

N.p.: Ford Foundation. Retrieved from strongreturns.org

Vacca, J. S. (2005). Educated prisoners are less likely to return to prison. Journal of

correctional education, 55(4), 297-305.

Wagner, P., & Walsh, A. (2016, June 16). States of incarceration: The global context 2016.

Prison policy initiative. Retrieved November 9, 2016.