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Spencer Toms
Burchett
Government
22 October 2015
Effective Prison Rehabilitation Act
Americas prisons have become infamous for their many frightening issues. They arent
known for producing overwhelmingly positive results, the truth of our prisons is often difficult to
face. We are all aware to some degree of the horrors that inmates face, whether it be from
abusive guards or their fellow prisoners. Which is why it is no surprise that the main function of
this countrys prisons is not rehabilitation, but cruel punishment. Those who survive the prison
experience in America very rarely put their dark past behind them, and how could they? Prisons
have practically become the perfect training grounds to shape the worst criminal minds anyone
could possibly imagine. When these distorted minds think alike, they come together to form
vicious gangs that viciously fight one another in a violent power struggle. The state of prisons
has led to the formation of several gangs such as the Nuestra Familia, the Mexican Mafia, the
Aryan Brotherhood, the Black Guerrilla Family, the Northern Structure, and the Nazi Lowriders
(Wood). Americas prisons must be reformed because they suffer from overcrowding, they are
plagued with violence, and they have severe lack of rehabilitation, there are some people who
wrongly believe that it would be too expensive to attempt to fix the system and that we are right
severely punish prisoners.
It isnt easy to look at the statistics that prove just how badly our prisons are being
overcrowded. In comparison to other countries, America is very clearly lagging behind,

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America incarcerates five times more people than Britain, nine times more than Germany, and
12 times more than Japan (Petersilia). British, German, and Japanese prisons do not seem to
face even a fraction of the issues that ours do, or the cost for that matter. As more and more
prisoners are brought into the system, there must be enough staff members in order to maintain
the facility. Unfortunately for everyone involved, that has not happened, Nearly all BOP
facilities had fewer correctional staff on board than needed, with a BOP-wide staffing shortage in
excess of 3,200 ... [and] there was also anecdotal evidence that understaffing was stressing the
workforce (Gilna). The amount of prisoners in this country is increasing at an alarming rate, and
if a proper number of employees cannot be met in order to handle it, then the whole situation will
inevitably get out of hand. Prisoners will not simply behave themselves with a staff that can
barely manage to control them, especially when they are so often abused by them. If nothing is
done, then the situation is bound to get much worse before it gets any better, The already-taxed
Bureau of Prisons network swelled to 39 percent above capacity through in September, 2012,
and is expected to surge to more than 45 percent above its limit in 2018 (McLaughlin). A new
approach must be taken to manage the prison population, one that does not lead inmates to
commit terrifying acts of violence.
Americas prisons are notorious for facilitating excessive amounts of violence and vile
sexual abuse. Serving a prison sentence is not something that is as simple as waiting to be
released. In order to make it through prison, an inmate works to survive their time owed, in 2012
alone there were 5.8 million violent crimes reported by inmates (Voorhees). These crimes were
committed not only by prisoners, but by guards as well. All of this violence had made
rehabilitation nearly impossible, it instead makes prisoners even worse than they were when they
initially arrived. Sexual abuse has also become an increasingly worse problem, In a 2012

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survey, a full 4 percent of the nations prisoners and 3.2 percent of jail inmates reported being
sexually victimized (Voorhees). That is roughly 200,000 victims without including all of the
cases that were not reported. The phrase Dont drop the soap has become a joke in this country,
but everyone knows the true meaning of the phrase refers to prison rape. If the problem of rape
in prisons is simply laughed at, then how can anyone ever expect this horrible system to ever get
better? Once again guards are not to be excluded from the blame, in fact they share about as
much as the inmates, Nearly half of all sexual assault accusations reported in U.S. correctional
facilities in 2011 were aimed at prison guards or staff Jamie Fellner, who served on
the National Rape Elimination Commission said the statistics suggesting a growing number of
officer-on-inmate abuse point to either a culture of sweeping such attacks under the rug or just
poor prison management (Riddell). Allowing prisoners to be subject to such revolting forms of
cruelty only amplifies the whole issue by making even worse criminals. If prisons make it
impossible for their inmates to return to society, then they will only end up back in prison.
Recidivism has become one the largest problems the American prison system faces. A
staggering 3 in 4 prisoners are rearrested within 5 years after their release (Cooper). After prison,
many former inmates find that they have nowhere to go. Most businesses absolutely refuse to
hire anyone who has been in prison. Even worse, the extreme forms of abuse that these people
have suffered in prison has led them to believe that they dont belong anywhere else, prison is
simply all they know. In prison, an inmates very way of thinking is changed, Prison is where
youre told to have respect for those in authority. But instead of respect, you learn to hate,
because youre treated less than human, and held in contempt by those in authority, simply
because you are a prisoner (Szumski et al. 19). If prisoners minds are changed, then
reintegration into society is a near impossible task, making recidivism a much more likely

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outcome. The allowed formation of prison gangs has also made it out into the streets, Prison
gang-related crime and violence in the nations corrections system poses a significant threat to
facility employees and a growing threat in many communities. Once incarcerated, most street
gang members join an established prison gang to ensure their protection (2011 National).
Former inmates will feel a want to return to prison in order to rejoin their gang members, to them
their freedom means almost nothing because of how prison has changed them. With prisons
making criminals worse than ever rehabilitation has been replaced with recidivism. This is why
programs must be put in place to prevent abuse in prisons and help these former inmates move
on with their lives after prison.
Some people may believe that it would be too expensive for America to reform the prison
system in a way that would effectively allow for proper rehabilitation. There are several facts
that prove that it would actually cost much more to keep prisons going the way that they
currently are. First, the current cost of a single prisoner is outrageously high, The cost of
incarcerating one inmate in Fiscal 2010 was $31,307 per year. In states like Connecticut,
Washington state, New York, it's anywhere from $50,000 to $60,000 (The Cost). With the rate
of recidivism being as high as it is, nearly every prisoner that is released would at some point
return and cost the state an absolutely ludicrous amount of money. The truth is, America already
spends a ridiculous amount of money on a system that does not work, $80 billion dollars was
spent on incarceration in 2010 alone (Dimon). Prisons are only getting more and more expensive
as the years go by. It is getting to the point where the budgets that are currently set will soon be
far exceeded, Federal prison costs are expected to rise to 30 percent of the Department of
Justice's budget by 2020 (Cox). Even worse, federal prisons are only part of the equation as the
states are having pour huge amounts of funding into their prisons as well. California in particular

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is known having spending issues for prisons due to overcrowding, Overcrowding has led to
extremely high budgets for prisons, the annual budget in California is $9.3 billion (Sullivan).
All of these facts clearly show that an attempt to put programs in place to fix the prison system,
could not possibly be more costly than allowing it to continue as it is. Secondly, some would
attempt to argue that prisoners should most definitely be punished instead of rehabilitated. This
argument holds absolutely no weight due to the fact that the forms of punishment American
prisoners face have no place in modern day society. Many young juveniles receive punishment
that is so harsh, that they are forced into extreme desperation, The suicide and sexual abuse
rates of younger prisoners are higher than those of the physically mature, Gary Scott, the inmate,
noted: how can rehabilitation be possible in such a dangerous environment (Bruenig). How
can anyone possibly justify punishing young men and women so cruelly and harshly that they are
led to commit suicide? A system that encourages such a thing has no place in any civilized
nation. Solitary confinement is one such form of punishment that is immoral beyond measure, as
it has led inmates to suffer from severe PTSD and paranoia (Gonzalez). Making prisoners
mentally scarred for the rest of their lives does not help anyone, it only worsens the problem by
ensuring that they will never become productive members of society. Prisoners are made to think
that they are inferior human beings who are constantly pitted against another, Prison is where
another prisoner can drop a note to a guard that states you have contraband in your cell. And
without consideration, the authorities will come tear cell apart looking for something that was
never there in the first place. And for them to apologize for disrupting your cell and peace of
mind is unthinkable, for you are a prisoner (Szumski et al. 18). Prison is where prisoners are not
only punished for their misdeeds, they dehumanized for them. To say we should focus on
punishment over rehabilitation is to say that we prefer to ruin lives as opposed to fixing them.

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There is no denying that the U.S. prison system is beyond flawed. With unreasonable
amounts of overcrowding, violence and sexual abuse, and recidivism rates the outlook is very
bleak. However, if we can focus on fixing the issues by removing the atrocities that are currently
overwhelming the prisons in this country, then they may be fixed. Inmates must be steered away
from a life of crime because many of those who are able to survive prison, do not fear returning
to it. The entire system has become a large pit that America must throw billions of dollars into
just to keep it running in the horrible state that it is in. If nothing is done, then countless more
crimes will be committed and the number of Americans behind bars will increase at an appalling
rate. The future must be one that allows for redemption, not senseless revenge that is masked
under the name of justice.

Works Cited

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Book Source
Szumski, Bonnie, and David L. Bender. America's Prisons: Opposing Viewpoints. St. Paul, MN:
Greenhaven, 1985. Print.
Web Sources
Bruenig, Elizabeth S. "Why Americans Dont Care About Prison Rape." The Nation. The Nation,
02 Mar. 2015. Web. 18 Oct. 2015. <http://www.thenation.com/article/why-americansdont-care-about-prison-rape/>.
Cooper, Alexia D. "Recidivism Patterns from 2005 to 2010." Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).
BJS, 22 Apr. 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.

<http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?

ty=pbdetail&iid=4987>.
"The Cost of a Nation of Incarceration." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 23 Apr. 2012. Web. 18 Oct.
2015. <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-cost-of-a-nation-of-incarceration/>.
Cox, John. "Wonkbook: 11 Facts about Americas Prison Population."Washington Post. The
Washington Post, 13 Aug. 2013. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/13/wonkbook-11-factsabout-americas-prison-population/>.
Dimon, Laura. "19 Actual Statistics About America's Prison System." Mic. N.p., 3 Apr. 2014.
Web. 18 Oct. 2015. <http://mic.com/articles/86519/19-actual-statistics-about-america-sprison-system>.

Works Cited

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Gilna, Derek. "Prison Legal News." Report: Increase in Federal Prison Population,
Overcrowding. Prison Legal News, 19 May 2014. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
<https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2014/may/19/report-increase-federal-prisonpopulation-overcrowding/>.
Gonzalez, Claudia. "The 'Torment of Isolation' - Ending Solitary Confinement for Juveniles New America Media." The 'Torment of Isolation' - Ending Solitary Confinement for
Juveniles. New America Media, 17 Sept. 2015. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.
<http://newamericamedia.org/2015/09/the-torment-of-isolation---ending-solitaryconfinement-for-juveniles.php>.
McLaughlin, Michael. "Overcrowding In Federal Prisons Harms Inmates, Guards: GAO
Report." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 15 Sept. 2012. Web. 18 Oct.
2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/14/prison-overcrowdingreport_n_1883919.html>.
Petersilia, Joan. "Beyond the Prison Bubble." National Institute of Justice. National Institute of
Justice, 3 Nov. 2011. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
<http://www.nij.gov/journals/268/pages/prison-bubble.aspx>.
Riddell, Kelly. "Shades of Shawshank: Guards, Staff Committed Half of All Prison Sex
Assaults." Washington Times. The Washington Times, 23 Jan. 2014. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/23/staff-members-committed-halfsexual-assaults-priso/?page=all>.

Works Cited

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Sullivan, Cara. "Prison Overcrowding: California." ALEC American Legislative Exchange

Council. . American Legislative Exchange Council, n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.
<http://www.alec.org/initiatives/prison-overcrowding/prison-overcrowding-california/>.
"2011 National Gang Threat Assessment Emerging Trends." FBI. FBI, 25 June 2010. Web. 18
Oct. 2015. <https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/2011-national-gang-threatassessment/2011-national-gang-threat-assessment#GangsandCorrections>.
Voorhees, Josh. "A City of Convicts." Slate. N.p., 1 July 2014. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.
<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/06/prison_crime_rate_th
e_u_s_violent_crime_rate_is_falling_partly_because_the.html>.
Wood, Graeme. "How Gangs Took Over Prisons." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 16
Sept. 2014. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.
<http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/10/how-gangs-took-over-p
risons/379330/>.