Does Prison Reform Work?

The word penitentiary originates from the Pennsylvania Quakers’ belief in penitence and self-examination as a way of achieving salvation. The first American penitentiary was the Walnut Street Jail, established in Philadelphia in 1790. The structural pattern of outside cells, along with the central corridor, was introduced at Walnut Street Jail and soon became the major architectural feature of prison construction. Walnut Street Jail was also the place where solitary confinement was permanently established as a method of combating crime.

The new prison system operated on the principles of reform. Prisoners were segregated according to age, sex, and the type of offense committed. More than 200 years ago, this innovative method of reform was put into place. Since then, we have built hundreds of prisons. And we have filled those prisons more quickly than we can build them. In the U.S., our rate of repeat offenders is so high that we could easily place revolving doors at the front of our prisons. Our technology has advanced at lightning speed. Our methods of rehabilitation have not.

Does prison reform work? We need look no further than a few statistics to know the answer is absolutely not. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, of the 272,111 inmates released from prisons in 15 states in 1994, an estimated 67.5% were re-arrested within 3 years.

Prison reform has truly become an oxymoron. Most prisons are a place of brutality. Inmates live in a world of violence. The first-time petty criminals and drug addicts are tossed in with the hard-core murderers and rapists. Whether or not they were violent to begin with, they must become violent to survive. How can we expect reform given these conditions?

A 1996 Human Rights Watch report titled No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons, contains a multitude of quotes from inmates. Read only a few and you get a clear view of the ugliness inside a prison. Here are two examples:

I found out how people earn respect in here, you have to beat someone or shank them.
— J.G., Minnesota, 9/12/96

Most of the prisoners who rape are spending from 5 to life. And are part of a gang. They pick a loner smaller weaker individual. And make that person into a homosexual then sell him to other inmates or gangs. Anywhere from a pack of cigarettes to 2 cartons . . . . No one cares about you or anyone else. If they show kindness or are trying to be helpful, it is only because they want something. And if there offering you protection you can guarantee that there going to seek sexual favors. . . . When an inmate comes in for the first time and doesnt know anyone. The clicks and gangs. Watch him like Wolves readying there attacks. They see if he spends time alone, who he eats with. Its like the Wild Kingdom. Then they start playing with him, checking the new guy out. (They call him fresh meat.)
— J.G., Minnesota, 8/8/96

Rape, abuse, gang associations, fear, and rivalry are the way of life in prisons. These situations are not new, nor are they any more controlled now than a decade or two ago. In this sense, prison life only grows worse as overcrowding forces the inmates into tightly confined areas.

Inmates certainly should not be given private rooms, HDTV in their cells, and filet mignon on their plates. No one believes a prisoner should be treated like a guest at a fancy hotel. However, we must face reality. When we treat inmates like rabid animals, that is what they will become.

From my monthly newsletter -Guilty As Charged.