Deterrence or Detriment

Despite incarceration rates in the United States being the lowest they’ve been in twenty years, our nation still has the most incarcerated citizens per capita in the world. Speculation on why these numbers are so high falls on the fact that the investment in schools is minimal, especially in the areas that need funding the most. Other factors could be, but are not limited to, outdated drug laws, inadequate re-entry services, and discrimination in the workforce. It’s been proven time and time again that a lack of education combined with low income and a “criminal” past is the perfect recipe for recidivism.

Official prisons were implemented in the late 18th century, the original purpose of which was to house convicted criminals. The three primary purposes that prisons have served since are retribution, deterrence, and rehabilitation. Retribution is for prisoners to pay the debt to society they’ve placed upon themselves, deterrence is to make others think twice when the punishment involves losing your personal rights, and rehabilitation is to mold these people into productive members of society. In short, they are socializing agents for those who have done wrong but can do better.

In more recent years, it seems as though their only function is to tuck away the people we don’t want to see or are afraid of. There’s little to no chance of betterment and that is why recidivism rates have gone up drastically. One can claim that the free educational programs combat that or the reentry services are serving their purpose, but the fact is they are not. The fantasy of prisoners receiving a proper education hasn’t been implemented enough since the 1840’s when prison curricula included reading, writing, math, history, geography, physiology, and physical education. The termination of this program was cut along with the budget funded by the government and, in some cases, the Corrections Corporation of America. Yes, some prisons are being funded by a corporation whose founder literally said there’s no difference between prisoners and hamburgers in terms of being a lucrative commodity.

In addition to this, the punishments implemented to “rehabilitate” prisoners actually turn them into the opposite direction and create lifelong problems that once again make recidivism rates much higher. Solitary confinement, for example, was a punishment developed by Quakers in the 1800s who believed that it would be a time set aside to reflect and read the Bible without distraction. After such a time of prisoners becoming insane and committing suicide, the Supreme Court at the time declared that it was unconstitutional. People in the 19th century, who were still dueling each other over petty insults, declared that solitary confinement was too cruel. Resurfacing roughly thirty years ago, now entire prisons have been dedicated to solitary confinement alone, meaning that all prisoners housed there are stuck in rooms only as big as a king sized bed for 23 hours a day with minimal contact.

Articles in 2009 released information stating that because humans have an innate need for social contact, a lack thereof is likely to cause detrimental and permanent brain damage. Being in solitary confinement causes prisoners to lose track of time, fall into depression, and hallucinate. The long lasting effects of this torture is a psychological disease known as delirium. The effects of which can range from difficulty thinking to overt paranoia and hallucinations. Once released, these symptoms do not simply just disappear and often times when prisoners are released the outside world is too much to handle.  A common misconception is that solitary confinement is solely for people who have committed atrocious acts but the truth is that solitary confinement has been used to tuck away prisoners that the guards don’t want to be bothered with, the two primary groups being people of color and those with mental illnesses or disabilities. 

The current systems implemented are backtracking us as a society. It is strongly suggested that we take the time and funding needed to solve our problems and help the people that need it instead of tucking them away and denying them basic human rights. It’s abhorrent that these kinds of conditions are being passed off especially when the rest of the world is already reviewing their current systems. We see this with Sweden, whose crime rates have dropped drastically and whose recidivism rate is approximately 40%, shocking compared to our own 76% rate. Nordic countries have done the thing that the U.S. won’t even consider, and they’re seeing better results because of it. The U.S. needs to get with the program because as of right now, the only thing we’re really number one in anymore is incarceration rates and shooting statistics.