Speech- Eliza Jane Schaeffer

Eliza Jane Schaeffer

Prison Reform

12/14/14

Logsdon 6^th hour

756 thousand.  That’s how many seconds are in a year. 66 thousand 137. That’s how many dollars are spent on American prisons every second of every year. By the end of my speech, about 34 million dollars will have been spent. And it is not as if the money is going towards something productive. The recidivism rate, or the rate at which released prisoners are re-arrested, is 76.6%. We might as well be burning 50 billion dollars every year. So what’s the problem? Why is our prison system so embarrassingly ineffective? Primarily, it is more punitive than corrective, which leaves inmates aware they have done something wrong but unsure of how to fix it. Then, once in prison, they are treated like animals, which is not conducive to repentance and reform. Finally, once they have completed their sentences, prisoners are simply let loose into the real world, a place nothing like prison, and they struggle to adapt.

After a bit of contemplation, the logic behind prison is flawed. You’re placing at-risk individuals in an isolated environment with other at-risk individuals. You’re introducing white collar criminals and drug users, people who have made mistakes that they now most likely regret, with murderers and sociopaths. In prisons, a twisted hierarchy develops in which those who can boast more offensive crimes take the top seats. Compared to Jeffery the serial killer, Bob the marijuana dealer seems fairly pathetic, and is thus lower on the prison totem pole. This negative environment is counterproductive to reform. A similar system develops in juvenile prisons, which compromises their effectiveness. A study at the University of Montreal revealed that young adults who “were sentenced to juvenile prison were 37 times more likely to be arrested again as adults.” Three of our last presidents have either hinted at or admitted to using drugs in their childhood.  How would their lives be different if they had gone to prison? A prison sentence is the ultimate time-out, but if you think back to your childhood, you’ll recall that time-out was never an effective punishment for bad behavior. My only misdemeanor I clearly recall is when I drew in crayon on our white carpet and had to scrub it out. The constructive punishment made it memorable. So we have two problems: First, prison creates a negative environment that is counterproductive for nonviolent offenders and juveniles. Second, sitting and doing nothing as punishment is not particularly effective. So, naturally I have two solutions. One: end juvenile prisons. Two: replace the prison sentences of juvenile and nonviolent offenders with extensive community service sentences, completed under the supervision of prison officials or community members. A study done by the Post-Release Employment Project found that when such a program was implemented, the recidivism rate decreased by 35%. This way, criminals are not only punished for their crime, but they are also shown the community they damaged when they committed it. And this punishment requires more effort on their part than sitting in a cell would require.

            Although it would not be feasible to expand this program to violent offenders, we should not forget them. They too have the potential to improve. Currently, however, this potential is seemingly ignored. Despite psychologists’ constant clamoring for a positive reinforcement environment, reform is slow and scarce. In Texas, the recidivism rate is nearly half the national average, and this can partially be attributed to the fact that they reward inmates for good behavior. Well-behaved inmates receive special privileges, instead of losing privileges when they’ve done something wrong. When leading behaviorist BF Skinner came up with the principle of conditioning, he found positive reinforcement, or the reinforcement of desirable behaviors, to be more effective.  Professor James Gilligan experimented with what he called an “anti-prison” in which prisoners were treated with “exactly the same degree of respect and kindness as we would hope they would show to others after they return to the community.” His prison included a re-education program and positive enforcement. Recidivism and incidents of violence nearly disappeared. The Texas prison I mentioned earlier also included career training, education opportunities, therapy, and drug rehabilitation. These constructive programs focus on reforming the individuals, turning them into productive citizens, making sure they won’t make the same mistake twice. Furthermore, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than half of repeat offenders are mentally ill. These people need help, or they’re going to keep following the same worn path they always have, a path that leads straight to jail.

The current system creates mental health problems rather than solving them. Solitary Nation, a Frontline documentary, explored the punishment mechanisms within modern prisons, and what it revealed is horrifying. Inmates who do not comply with prison rules are placed in solitary confinement. They are locked away in a small room for 23 of the 24 hours of the day and denied human interaction. This combination has extremely adverse effects on the mental wellbeing of inmates. The mental regression of one man was tracked over the course of several months. He began his time in solitary determined to make the most of it, but by the end, he was so desperate for human interaction that he slit his wrists and smeared the blood on the door to his cell. For most inmates in solitary confinement, self-mutilation is the only way to catch the attention of the guards, and as miserable as they are, they are willing to resort to desperate measures. Prisoners coming out of solitary confinement were mentally worse off than they were going in. The punishment for self-mutilation is more time in solitary. Thus, an endless cycle of punishment and deterioration is born. Supports claim that major offenders deserve this severe punishment. The Constitution of United States, which bans cruel and unusual punishment, disagrees. Anything that would cause a man to lose his mind certainly qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment.

            And then, violia! You have completed your sentence and you are released, free to roam. But what do you do? No money, no family, no job, no life skills, no home. That’s the cruel reality that many released prisoners face, and that’s why 50% of released prisoners are homeless. Housethehomeless.org joked in a recent article “How to be homeless: have a criminal record.” Suddenly four walls and free food doesn’t seem so bad, even if it means going back to prison. But that’s the exact opposite of what we want. We want them to leave prison changed men and women, ready to do their part for society. We don’t want them to come back, which is why there should be a program that assists released prisoners in adapting to life in the real world. This might include temporary shelter, job search assistance, and therapy. Yes, these reforms would cost money, but they would also drastically reduce the prison population, thus offsetting any additional costs.

Our gut reaction when we hear the word “felon” is one of disgust and contempt. But if we want to reduce the recidivism rate, we need to fight this instinct. We’re innocent until proven guilty in America, but these released criminals, who have already paid their dues, are treated as if they are guilty of crimes they have yet to commit. And that expectation creates a self-fulfilling prophecy and a vicious cycle. “Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody has those days.” We can thank Hannah Montana for this insightful comment, and I say that in the most sincere way possible. Prisoners are people, people who have made mistakes, and it is time we treat them as such. We need constructive programs and punishments, not dehumanization. We need a system that churns out productive citizens, not more criminals. In the end, reform not only saves money, it saves lives, lives that would otherwise be wasted sitting in a prison cell.

Works Cited

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Solitary Nation. Dir. Dan Edge. Prod. Dan Edge and Elizabeth C. Jones. Frontline. WGBH Educational Foundation, 22 Apr. 2014. Web. 19 June 2014.

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