Prison, a place where many go to serve hard time for criminal activity committed in society. Yet a prison is known as a correctional facility, but there may not be much there for correcting. Many prisoners today face hardship and struggle throughout our correctional facilities. Much of our correctional facilities are over crowded and many inmates are being released annually. However, many of these prisoners do not have valuable skill sets or even the basic educational elements taught in public schools. There are educational programs in prison, but some are corrupt while others are simply inadequate for the norms of prison life. People in prison for long stretches of time adapt to many of the anti-social norms of prison life which may hinder them when they are released into the real world. In this video the two former inmates discuss their experiences with these problems and propose methods and steps for improving conditions in prison. The educational programs, I believe, could be the most valuable. We need to push for better quality, and more available courses for inmates to take to help them adapt back to regular life outside of prison. Prisoners, statistically, have a lower rate of recidivism if educated more thoroughly. Keeping prisoners educated and productively busy can help make our staggering number of inmates better members of society. Ghost004
I agree that prisons need to push for better quality of educational programs. The video showed the quality of current programs, which is really sad. I didn’t realize how bad it was until one of the ex-felons shared his story on the computer program in his prison. The prisoners were there to learn, but they got cheated just so the prison could receive a federal fund. The educational programs can help prisoners get their life back on track when they get out of prison. Switching to providing more effective programs will be lengthy in time, but it will definitely be worth it in the long run. Scuba004
I agree with you greatly. You say how they are called correctional facilities, but what correcting is really happening. The punishment they are given is not helping them with their education or when they get out, going back to normal life. That's why most prisoners get out and go right back in. They don't have any other choices or opportunities to make their life on the outside better. Mustang004
This video helps show the main problems when it comes to our prison system. I like the quote that was mentioned earlier in the video, “No amount of programming can satisfy someone for 10 to 20 years.” I agree that some sentences are too long, especially for nonviolent offenders. Locking people up for 20 years only makes them better criminals; we need to start rehab programs if we want to do good for them. Also mentioned, the psychological help for prisoners is missing. Many frown at people who need mental help, but mental health is just as important as physical health. If prisons provided truly effective psychologists/ psychiatrists, we could get prisoners to really think about their behaviors. Prisoners tend to suppress their emotions because it’s thought of as a weakness. It’s part of the convict code, which also needs to be fixed. There should not be rules of survival for prisoners that are counterproductive outside of prison. Prisons need to fix this convict code by providing therapy that teaches and enforces that smiling and sharing feelings is okay. Jeff mentioned the statistic that there is a 43% reduction in recidivism for prisoners who advance educationally while in prison. We can save so much time and money by providing and enforcing prison courses. Not only that, but prisoners will have an easier time of becoming productive citizens once they get out. If prisons do enforce education, we would also have to get rid of our culture of not hiring felons. What good would educated ex-felons be if they can’t get a job? As mentioned in the video, one of the men couldn’t even get community service because he was a felon. Scuba004
This video helped bring to light a lot of the problems that prisons have in today's world. Prisons are meant to be a place to where people can turn their lives around so that they can be released back into the world as a functioning member of the society. However, the prisons in today's world fall short of that expectation in some areas. For example, in the video there were two ex-convicts that share their experiences of being detained in a correctional facility and the things that the correctional facility offered to the inmates. One of the men said that there were programs that were offered to help the prisoners get ready for changing times, but he went into detail about his computer class. He said that they spent more than thirty minutes in silence and the only thing that they learned about computers was how to turn it on. An inmate in his class tried to ask a question but the guard told him to shut up. The other ex-convict on the show was talking about how they had different classes that you could go to, but the only thing that one needed to do in order to get a certificate was to attend the class and nothing more. So with all of that said, it is time to change the way our prisons operate and we need to actually educate the prisoners. Otherwise, the prisoners will just be released back into the world without a clue of how to do anything except revert back to crime. Rayder004
If prisons provided truly effective psychologists/ psychiatrists, we could get prisoners to really think about their behaviors. Prisoners tend to suppress their emotions because it’s thought of as a weakness. It’s part of the convict code, which also needs to be fixed. There should not be rules of survival for prisoners that are counterproductive outside of prison.The educational programs, I believe, could be the most valuable. We need to push for better quality, and more available courses for inmates to take to help them adapt back to regular life outside of prison. Prisoners, statistically, have a lower rate of recidivism if educated more thoroughly. BMW004
Prisons have become an extremely punitive system in this country. Ever since the war on drugs we have been locking up more and more people than any other country. And putting these peoples in jail cells because of small drug crimes with huge mandatory minimums is not making them more productive members of society. We are putting way too much money into housing these people and letting them become better criminals in prison. It does cost more to put inmates in rehab but in the long run it will be more cost effective and inmates would not be in as long because they would be rehabilitated and prepared to be law abiding citizens. We are building more and more prisons to compensate for the amount of inmates we have. This is just one more reason that we need a prison reform. One of my biggest reasons is that the punitive treatments for non violent offenders is not helping them at all. In some cases locking them up in a cell might cause them to boil and become violent. I do believe violent offenders like rapists should be in prison and put into different programs then non violent offenders. A prison reform has been long awaited and we need to move forward to a less punitive criminal justice system. Bike004
I agree that prisons are becoming extremely punitive in America. We are spending so much on housing inmates it could be better spent on programs to rehabilitate and train them to get jobs once released back into society. The system is in need of a huge overhaul in this country if we expect people to come out as changed and better individual.mommy004
Prisons are meant to be a place where offenders can learn from the mistakes they made in their lives that brought them to this point. It is meant to ‘correct’ them, hence correctional facility. However, this video mentions that to a majority of people, prison is just a place to kill time, a place to mature without any true rehabilitation intentions. This video also brought a point that I found interesting and that was that the prisons were basically giving people certifications to show they were being rehabilitated without even doing anything. The example given in this video was that the C.O. would bring them into a room with computers, have them sign in, turn the computers on, and just sit in silence not doing anything. Then they would be told to turn off the computers and supposedly that was enough to say they completed a typing certification. The reason prisons did this was so that they could say they are helping the prisoners rehabilitate and would then receive their stipend from the government. This is unfortunate because there was a stat mentioned that there is a 43% reduction in recidivism rates for prisoners who gain educational advancement while incarcerated. One of the men in the video introduced an idea that the C.O’s could gain a $5,000 stipend bonus for offenders who don’t reoffend. This is a great idea in my opinion because this encourages the prison guards to actually help the offenders to rehabilitate and seek treatment to better themselves, rather than just treating them like a pile of dirt. CAE 004.
What is really annoying is that not every prison treats the inmates like how others do. Other places also have different programs to help the inmates. No they aren't going make them Golden Star people but they're trying to help them learn skills that they can use on the outside so then they don't end up back in the prison. Pie004
We are locking people up left and right here in the United States. People are going to prison because of little things like small amounts of drugs. When offenders are inside of prison they are there to be “corrected”. There isn’t any programs though to help the inmates to learn a new skill while still serving your time. Most people though once they are out can they get a job with the skills that they did learn. When I went through the Federal Prison in Pekin I was able to see the programs that they have within. Most of the inmates who had the jobs or are able to have the these jobs. The Federal Prison had special people who had to take certain classes just to be able to be in the kitchen. They also had classrooms to help people who want to get their GED they are able to do that. Pie004
As we have already learned in class the U.S. locks up more people than any other nation in the world. The War On Drugs really caused a sky rocket in the inmate population. Many prisoners once released find it almost impossible to find jobs and be successful members in their communities. Problems like these show a need for an overhaul of the system. There needs to be more focus on rehabilitating these prisoners and providing more programs geared towards helping gain skills they can put to use once released back into society. The lack of funds makes it hard to provide rehabilitative services to adult offenders. But we cannot continue to be so punitive and expect that people will just stop committing crime. If people are unable to find jobs, housing, or food we as a society or not leaving them with any other option than to commit crimes in order to survive. So hopefully in the near future of the criminal justice system more money will be spent towards programs to help these inmates versus spending money to just lock them up. True locking them up stops the crime for the period they are locked up, but we seem to forget they will one day be back in society. mommy004
I agree to what you said about how hard it is for them to find housing, jobs, and food. Prisoners, need to take education class, and learn basic skills in order to find jobs. People who are in prison for drug charges and just a waste of tax payers money because they do not deserve to be locked up. coutinho004
Correctional facilities are good for punishment. That's why they might as well change the name. I don't see any correcting really going on. I see punishment for inmates. They do deserve what they get, but all are not that bad. Most inmates can get out of prison and back to the outside world. Once you're out though, you're more than likely to come right back in. You're not taught how to get back on your feet and not given any opportunities. We need to actually make them correctional facilities and help out the inmates. This can be done by teaching them some education and basic life skills they will need to get back out there and not come back. Incarceration are already high enough, we don't need people coming right back because they have no other choice. We really need to push for better education systems inside the prisons. This can work out greatly for the better. Not all inmates are terrible people. They just make bad choices or do what they have to do to support a family. They need some encouragement or be taught anything to help them out in the world. The words correction facility really needs to mean actual correcting not just punishment. Mustang004
One of the major problems in the Unites States is our prison system. Locking up many non-violent offenders for years does not help out the community. People who are taking drugs should not be locked up in prison away from their families. They become used to the norm in prisons, and they become criminals instead of drug addicts. Once they are out they receive no help, it is hard to them to find a job because of a felony, they cannot receive government help, and most likely end up back in prison. People's taxes should not be paying for these non-violent criminals to stay in prison; they should go to rehabs for them. No kid should ever have to grow up without a parent because they are in prison for a non-violent crime. Prisoners, need to be educated, taught good speaking skills, and learn how to respect those outside the prison with respect. coutinho004
Prison, a place where many go to serve hard time for criminal activity committed in society. Yet a prison is known as a correctional facility, but there may not be much there for correcting. Many prisoners today face hardship and struggle throughout our correctional facilities. Much of our correctional facilities are over crowded and many inmates are being released annually. However, many of these prisoners do not have valuable skill sets or even the basic educational elements taught in public schools. There are educational programs in prison, but some are corrupt while others are simply inadequate for the norms of prison life. People in prison for long stretches of time adapt to many of the anti-social norms of prison life which may hinder them when they are released into the real world. In this video the two former inmates discuss their experiences with these problems and propose methods and steps for improving conditions in prison. The educational programs, I believe, could be the most valuable. We need to push for better quality, and more available courses for inmates to take to help them adapt back to regular life outside of prison. Prisoners, statistically, have a lower rate of recidivism if educated more thoroughly. Keeping prisoners educated and productively busy can help make our staggering number of inmates better members of society. Ghost004
ReplyDeleteWe do need to better the quality of our prisons. Rayder004
DeleteI agree that prisons need to push for better quality of educational programs. The video showed the quality of current programs, which is really sad. I didn’t realize how bad it was until one of the ex-felons shared his story on the computer program in his prison. The prisoners were there to learn, but they got cheated just so the prison could receive a federal fund. The educational programs can help prisoners get their life back on track when they get out of prison. Switching to providing more effective programs will be lengthy in time, but it will definitely be worth it in the long run. Scuba004
DeleteI agree with you greatly. You say how they are called correctional facilities, but what correcting is really happening. The punishment they are given is not helping them with their education or when they get out, going back to normal life. That's why most prisoners get out and go right back in. They don't have any other choices or opportunities to make their life on the outside better. Mustang004
DeleteThis video helps show the main problems when it comes to our prison system. I like the quote that was mentioned earlier in the video, “No amount of programming can satisfy someone for 10 to 20 years.” I agree that some sentences are too long, especially for nonviolent offenders. Locking people up for 20 years only makes them better criminals; we need to start rehab programs if we want to do good for them. Also mentioned, the psychological help for prisoners is missing. Many frown at people who need mental help, but mental health is just as important as physical health. If prisons provided truly effective psychologists/ psychiatrists, we could get prisoners to really think about their behaviors. Prisoners tend to suppress their emotions because it’s thought of as a weakness. It’s part of the convict code, which also needs to be fixed. There should not be rules of survival for prisoners that are counterproductive outside of prison. Prisons need to fix this convict code by providing therapy that teaches and enforces that smiling and sharing feelings is okay. Jeff mentioned the statistic that there is a 43% reduction in recidivism for prisoners who advance educationally while in prison. We can save so much time and money by providing and enforcing prison courses. Not only that, but prisoners will have an easier time of becoming productive citizens once they get out. If prisons do enforce education, we would also have to get rid of our culture of not hiring felons. What good would educated ex-felons be if they can’t get a job? As mentioned in the video, one of the men couldn’t even get community service because he was a felon. Scuba004
ReplyDeleteThis video helped bring to light a lot of the problems that prisons have in today's world. Prisons are meant to be a place to where people can turn their lives around so that they can be released back into the world as a functioning member of the society. However, the prisons in today's world fall short of that expectation in some areas. For example, in the video there were two ex-convicts that share their experiences of being detained in a correctional facility and the things that the correctional facility offered to the inmates. One of the men said that there were programs that were offered to help the prisoners get ready for changing times, but he went into detail about his computer class. He said that they spent more than thirty minutes in silence and the only thing that they learned about computers was how to turn it on. An inmate in his class tried to ask a question but the guard told him to shut up. The other ex-convict on the show was talking about how they had different classes that you could go to, but the only thing that one needed to do in order to get a certificate was to attend the class and nothing more. So with all of that said, it is time to change the way our prisons operate and we need to actually educate the prisoners. Otherwise, the prisoners will just be released back into the world without a clue of how to do anything except revert back to crime. Rayder004
ReplyDeleteIf prisons provided truly effective psychologists/ psychiatrists, we could get prisoners to really think about their behaviors. Prisoners tend to suppress their emotions because it’s thought of as a weakness. It’s part of the convict code, which also needs to be fixed. There should not be rules of survival for prisoners that are counterproductive outside of prison.The educational programs, I believe, could be the most valuable. We need to push for better quality, and more available courses for inmates to take to help them adapt back to regular life outside of prison. Prisoners, statistically, have a lower rate of recidivism if educated more thoroughly. BMW004
ReplyDeletePrisons have become an extremely punitive system in this country. Ever since the war on drugs we have been locking up more and more people than any other country. And putting these peoples in jail cells because of small drug crimes with huge mandatory minimums is not making them more productive members of society. We are putting way too much money into housing these people and letting them become better criminals in prison. It does cost more to put inmates in rehab but in the long run it will be more cost effective and inmates would not be in as long because they would be rehabilitated and prepared to be law abiding citizens. We are building more and more prisons to compensate for the amount of inmates we have. This is just one more reason that we need a prison reform. One of my biggest reasons is that the punitive treatments for non violent offenders is not helping them at all. In some cases locking them up in a cell might cause them to boil and become violent. I do believe violent offenders like rapists should be in prison and put into different programs then non violent offenders. A prison reform has been long awaited and we need to move forward to a less punitive criminal justice system. Bike004
ReplyDeleteI agree that prisons are becoming extremely punitive in America. We are spending so much on housing inmates it could be better spent on programs to rehabilitate and train them to get jobs once released back into society. The system is in need of a huge overhaul in this country if we expect people to come out as changed and better individual.mommy004
DeletePrisons are meant to be a place where offenders can learn from the mistakes they made in their lives that brought them to this point. It is meant to ‘correct’ them, hence correctional facility. However, this video mentions that to a majority of people, prison is just a place to kill time, a place to mature without any true rehabilitation intentions. This video also brought a point that I found interesting and that was that the prisons were basically giving people certifications to show they were being rehabilitated without even doing anything. The example given in this video was that the C.O. would bring them into a room with computers, have them sign in, turn the computers on, and just sit in silence not doing anything. Then they would be told to turn off the computers and supposedly that was enough to say they completed a typing certification. The reason prisons did this was so that they could say they are helping the prisoners rehabilitate and would then receive their stipend from the government. This is unfortunate because there was a stat mentioned that there is a 43% reduction in recidivism rates for prisoners who gain educational advancement while incarcerated. One of the men in the video introduced an idea that the C.O’s could gain a $5,000 stipend bonus for offenders who don’t reoffend. This is a great idea in my opinion because this encourages the prison guards to actually help the offenders to rehabilitate and seek treatment to better themselves, rather than just treating them like a pile of dirt. CAE 004.
ReplyDeleteWhat is really annoying is that not every prison treats the inmates like how others do. Other places also have different programs to help the inmates. No they aren't going make them Golden Star people but they're trying to help them learn skills that they can use on the outside so then they don't end up back in the prison. Pie004
DeleteWe are locking people up left and right here in the United States. People are going to prison because of little things like small amounts of drugs. When offenders are inside of prison they are there to be “corrected”. There isn’t any programs though to help the inmates to learn a new skill while still serving your time. Most people though once they are out can they get a job with the skills that they did learn. When I went through the Federal Prison in Pekin I was able to see the programs that they have within. Most of the inmates who had the jobs or are able to have the these jobs. The Federal Prison had special people who had to take certain classes just to be able to be in the kitchen. They also had classrooms to help people who want to get their GED they are able to do that. Pie004
ReplyDeleteAs we have already learned in class the U.S. locks up more people than any other nation in the world. The War On Drugs really caused a sky rocket in the inmate population. Many prisoners once released find it almost impossible to find jobs and be successful members in their communities. Problems like these show a need for an overhaul of the system. There needs to be more focus on rehabilitating these prisoners and providing more programs geared towards helping gain skills they can put to use once released back into society. The lack of funds makes it hard to provide rehabilitative services to adult offenders. But we cannot continue to be so punitive and expect that people will just stop committing crime. If people are unable to find jobs, housing, or food we as a society or not leaving them with any other option than to commit crimes in order to survive. So hopefully in the near future of the criminal justice system more money will be spent towards programs to help these inmates versus spending money to just lock them up. True locking them up stops the crime for the period they are locked up, but we seem to forget they will one day be back in society. mommy004
ReplyDeleteI agree to what you said about how hard it is for them to find housing, jobs, and food. Prisoners, need to take education class, and learn basic skills in order to find jobs. People who are in prison for drug charges and just a waste of tax payers money because they do not deserve to be locked up. coutinho004
DeleteCorrectional facilities are good for punishment. That's why they might as well change the name. I don't see any correcting really going on. I see punishment for inmates. They do deserve what they get, but all are not that bad. Most inmates can get out of prison and back to the outside world. Once you're out though, you're more than likely to come right back in. You're not taught how to get back on your feet and not given any opportunities. We need to actually make them correctional facilities and help out the inmates. This can be done by teaching them some education and basic life skills they will need to get back out there and not come back. Incarceration are already high enough, we don't need people coming right back because they have no other choice. We really need to push for better education systems inside the prisons. This can work out greatly for the better. Not all inmates are terrible people. They just make bad choices or do what they have to do to support a family. They need some encouragement or be taught anything to help them out in the world. The words correction facility really needs to mean actual correcting not just punishment. Mustang004
ReplyDeleteOne of the major problems in the Unites States is our prison system. Locking up many non-violent offenders for years does not help out the community. People who are taking drugs should not be locked up in prison away from their families. They become used to the norm in prisons, and they become criminals instead of drug addicts. Once they are out they receive no help, it is hard to them to find a job because of a felony, they cannot receive government help, and most likely end up back in prison. People's taxes should not be paying for these non-violent criminals to stay in prison; they should go to rehabs for them. No kid should ever have to grow up without a parent because they are in prison for a non-violent crime. Prisoners, need to be educated, taught good speaking skills, and learn how to respect those outside the prison with respect. coutinho004
ReplyDelete