What Purpose Do Prisons Serve in America's Justice System?

The question has been raised again and again, "What purpose do prisons serve in America's justice system?" Is it to rehabilitate and reform, or is it simply a place to gain a stigma that will follow the offender throughout his or her life? A stigma that will tacitly deny the former offender opportunities to enjoy the liberties that many of us take for granted. To be labeled as a criminal, an offender, an ex-con is not something that goes away. Offenses stay on the offenders record, even offenses for charges that have been dismissed, and people make judgements based upon these offenses. The failures of a justice system that has disproportionately prosecuted and convicted poor minority offenders, often for minor infractions are magnified by high rates of recidivism and reports of atrocities in juvenile detention centers like those in New York state. These detention centers are now under fire for use of excessive force due to a federal investigation:

4 Youth Prisons in New York Used Excessive Force

While we cannot hold the entire penile system responsible for the repeat offenders, we must address the fact that prisons in the U.S. do very little to rehabilitate inmates. What purpose is served when a juvenile inmate is subjected to full prone restraint or has his teeth knocked out for sneaking an extra cookie? The four NY centers singled out in the federal report excessively used physical force, and they failed to provide adequate counseling and mental health treatment for a population of prisoners who often enter into the justice system because of misdiagnosed and undiagnosed mental health issues. Many (3/4) of the children entering New York’s youth justice system have a history of drug or alcohol problems, more than half have diagnosed psychological problems and a third have developmental disabilities, according to statistics published by Office of Children and Family Services.

Instead of being astonished and appalled by the size of America's inmate population, we seem to grow more accepting of it. Prison after all is big business. The United States spends an estimated $60 billion on corrections each year. We cannot continue to allow poor policy and poor implementation to circumvent programs and activities that would discourage recidivism and promote real rehabilitation, nor can we allow state and federal funds to be funneled toward community and non profit based organizations who have found that recidivism programs are the latest way to pimp the misfortunes of the poor. The problems in our prisons, much like the problems in our schools, start long before the offender enters the system. Conditions of poverty and oppression create feelings of desperation that often result in illegal activity and acts of violence. Don't think that I am attempting to justify acts of lawlessness as being acceptable under certain conditions. The importance of individual responsibility must be asserted, but we must also strive to understand the conditions that often precede criminal activity. Working to correct social inequalities would go a long way towards decreasing our future inmate populations. We must also be concerned about the disproportionate number of African-Americans and Latinos involved in the justice system and what this says about the color of American justice. Until we address how justice is meted out, we will continue to see this disproportionality. Inside of prisons, we must have improved mental health care, medical care, and education and literacy programs. Having a prison system that houses over 2 million inmates on a given day, 60% of whom will return as repeat offenders is just not acceptable.

Written by Frederick A Hanna