News FeedReality TV Can Advance Prison Reform
The schedule that I keep as a prisoner does not leave room for television, but that doesn’t mean I don’t read about television programming. Recently I’ve read several articles that describe America’s fascination with reality TV. One show receiving a lot of coverage is Jon and Kate Plus Eight, with reports showing that as many as 10 million viewers watch a single episode. Wow! That’s a lot of interest. Those numbers have me wondering whether an opportunity exists for a reality TV show that would dramatize the struggles prisoners face upon release.
The Pew Charitable Trust, a respected and widely-quoted research organization, released a study showing that 750,000 prisoners return to their communities each year. That amounts to more than 2,000 people every day. The Pew report goes on to show that of every three prisoners who return to society, two will encounter some form of confinement again within three years. That cycle of failure ought to concern every American citizen. Reality television could bring the attention necessary for meaningful prison reform.
A reality television program on released prisoners might help mainstream audiences understand why so many people fail upon release from confinement. From my perspective, biased though it may be, the answer is obvious. The system of corrections perpetuates cycles of failure. I’ll tell you how. In isolating offenders for years or decades at a time, prisoners lose ties to legitimate society while proximity strengthens their ties with others who have been convicted of crime. Besides influencing personal relationships, the prison experience extinguishes hope, and in so doing it conditions the values by which prisoners live. In other words, since many prisoners perceive that they’ve been cut off from legitimate opportunities to participate in society, they hustle and scheme through underground economies to make their way.
Once prisoners complete their sentences, they return to communities that, in many ways, reject them. The released prisoners lack financial resources to establish themselves. With prison records, few find employment opportunities that will allow them to earn sufficient incomes for shelter, clothing, and the basic necessities of life. The prison system seems a perfect design to foster high recidivism rates, and taxpayers suffer the consequences.
The Bureau of Prisons published costs for taxpayers to confine offenders in crowded facilities. It’s an average of nearly $26,000 per year for each prisoner. By contrast, keeping an offender on probation costs taxpayers less than $3,800 per year. A win-win solution, to me, calls for change.
Rather than continuing a system of long-term imprisonment that perpetuates failure, taxpayers ought to urge reforms that would encourage nonviolent prisoners to work toward earning the privilege to transition from confinement to community-based sanctions like parole. Such a change would influence more positive prison adjustments. Those types of adjustments would prepare more offenders to overcome the challenges they will confront upon release.
The prison machine has been successful in blocking the media from reporting on the day-to-day life of confinement. Although institutional policies may restrict cameras and journalists from reporting on prison life, reality television could profile the challenges released prisoners face. Such coverage might persuade American audiences that long-term imprisonment for nonviolent offenders is a bad public policy.
I just recently purchased your book INSIDE. I was Shocked at what I read. I passed it on to my brother and plan on passing it on to others. I’m glad that you have found a way to pass your time in a more constructive matter. I was sadden with a lot that I had read. I have an uncle who is serving time and can’t help to wonder what he must encounter everyday. You have a vaild point when it comes to these men being released, for aslong as I can remember he has been in and out of prison. I did not think that there was even away that a person could better themselves in that type enviroment. God willing my uncle should be joining us some time this winter, but as eager as he seems to want to be home I wonder how long it would be before he may return to prison. I hope and pray that people open there eyes to what you are trying to say, I know as a TAX PAYER I did. Well I wish you and your wife the best and I will keep both of yall in my prayers.
[...] But while going through some daily blogs, I saw a piece that stopped me in my tracks. Michael Santos, prisoner and author of the book Inside: Life Behind Bars in America presents an interesting question: Can Reality TV Advance Prison Reform? [...]