News FeedPurpose of Prisons
I received a comment from Angelica who was responding to an article I wrote about prison staff members. I titled that article They’re Prison Guards, Not Correctional Officers. From that article, Angelica had some questions. She wanted me to elaborate.
All of my responses, of course, come from the observations and experiences I’ve had as a long-term prisoner. I’ve also learned a lot from hundreds of interviews I’ve conducted with other prisoners. Taken together, I have come to the conclusion that the goal of corrections was not to rehabilitate offenders. The buzzword of rehabilitation has not had a meaningful relationship to the management in prisons where I’ve been confined over the past 21 years.
The purpose of prisons, from my experience and observation, is to isolate offenders from society for the duration of their sentences. The prisons are effective at reaching this goal. Prisons do not allow many escapes, and the rules administrators use to govern them erect many barriers to separate prisoners from society in emotional, social, and spiritual ways as well as physical ways. They limit telephone and visiting access; they place restrictions on each prisoner’s ability to correspond or nurture community ties.
Those restrictions are a part of the prison experience, and they contribute to the effectiveness of isolating prisoners from society. The goal is to protect the security of the institution, not to prepare offenders for law abiding lives upon release. Those who staff prisons are very effective at maintaining security by isolating offenders. Those policies, however, are not effective at correcting human behavior. The high recidivism rates and high operating costs of prison management validate my findings.
Certainly, many of the people who choose to build careers working for the prison system have noble aspirations of helping offenders emerge as successful citizens. The culture of confinement, however, can extinguish those goals. Prison staff members cannot advance their careers by helping those in prison nurture family and community ties. Doing so would interfere with the security of the institution, and it likely would result in ostracism from colleagues. A staff member advances his career by focusing on security of the institution, not on preparing prisoners for success upon release.
I hope my response is helpful, though I invite further discussion. I appreciate opportunities to share what I have learned as a long-term prisoner.
Hi Micheal Santos I’m a student in Sam Torres corrections class at Long Beach State, and after reading your article, “Purpose of Prison”, I would love for you elaborate from your experiences as to why you feel that the goal of corrections was not to rehabilitate. Why do you feel that there is such high recidivism rates? I noticed you said that the goal is to protect the security of the institution, not to prepare offenders for law abiding lives upon release, But why is it for most offenders their freedom and rights being taken away is not enough to change their ways and keep them from re-offending, especially those that are in prison for long periods of time.
Hi Michael Santos, My name is Hassan Khan and I am taking the correction class with Sam Torres at California State Long Beach. I just few questions that I was wondering I could ask, since being in the prison for 21 years do you feel that the prison has served its purpose and changed you for better? Do you think by the prison effectively restricting the telephone use and visiting access would make the prisoner more likely make the person to loose their mind and cause problems in jail or would they accept and try to change themselves so they can earn these privileges? Is it possible for a prisoner to be reformed in prison even if they committed the most horrendous crime? Do you see the people that are in prison likely to change their ways and if so was it because of being in prison? I appreciate you time, and hope to hear from you soon. Thanks