Change the Prison System
Editor’s Note. This page was contributed by Frank W. Maletz, MD, Founder, H-ealth-S-Foundation.
Prisons as punishment are archaic and inhumane
In our human history, we’ve engrained prisons and imprisonment as punishment. No one living today is directly responsible for our “carceral system“ nor for any of its components or subsystems. Therefore, no one living today is responsible for the outcomes of the “system“. Prisons, cloistering, and exclusion are archaic, anachronistic, outmoded, antiquated, and, yes, inhumane institutions for ameliorating most criminality and rehabilitating the perpetrators of violations to the extant socio – cultural mores, customs, rules, regulations, norms, laws, community expectations, and standards of behavior and right acting.
Prisons are default institutions for many disorders
Currently prisons also are the default institutions for many interventions toward homelessness, illiteracy, ill – literacy, substance (s) abuse / addictions, mental disease, social dys – eases, dysregulations and disorders, and other demos – polis – socio – cultural ill-ths. Prisons after the 1950 – 1960s de institutionalizations of asylums, etc, with no gap – filling, community safety nets became the default places – of – choice for society to “dump“ their “outcasts“.
Correcting just one of these conditions is not sufficient, the whole system has to change.
Recidivism, 30% within 1 year and 79% within 5 years, indicates failure
In Connecticut, actually over 90 % of this population will eventually return to that same socio – cultural milieu which deported them – and they are often no better for the imprisonment – with recidivism at 30% year one and 79% at 5 years. 69% of the 5 year repeaters are convicted of a “ new crime “. No one would graduate from grammar school, let alone WorknLearn.us with grades as low as these. This report card is appalling for an “ enlightened 21 st Century mind and mindspace “.
We can do better than the present paradigm
While we can look away, hide, bury the data, embark upon more academic studies, appoint more task forces, and commission more third party evaluators ……+, we could also co design and co create new models cognitively and deliberately utilizing BEST evidence and common senses. Many tout Norway as better – YET it is still prison. We can do even better as exemplars, than even the current best examples.
Imprisonment reduces the lifespan of residents and correction officers
It is hard to conceive or imagine the squalor of the “ l;iving “ and “ working “ conditions in the prison environment. There is proof that prisoners are 15 – 20 years older than their chronological age. This fact has many causes, not just their incarceration. The average age of death of a CT Correction Officer is 59. These would be devastating statistics in a Third World country – yet, we in the USA / CT consider ourselves enlightened. REALLY ?
Prison conditions are demoralizing
The signal-to- noise ratio is abysmally low. The most common noun, verb, adjective, adverb is FU _ K. It escalates any encounter at any decibel level, no matter who starts the language : prisoner to prisoner / prisoner to Custody / Custody to prisoner / prisoner to Health Service professional / professional to prisoner. Inmates are fed three meals per day for $4.54 – PER DAY. We taxpayers get what we pay for in health returns for this investment.
Prisoners themselves are willing and interested.
One recently posted University – affiliated program lauded 12 open spots for college level credit. This step is certainly noteworthy, but note that 600 inmates applied for those slots ( that is a .02 effective rate of engagement for the willing and interested ). We need more bandwidth.
“ Education “ has its roots in “ to lead out “ – the willingness as shown above is obvious toward self improvement and habilitation, the resources are insufficient to the expressed needs and gaps. We hear too often labels, stigmatizations, “ but s “, barriers, and longstanding lame excuses
Conditions are demoralizing for everyone, for all participants. There are no measures of job satisfaction / dissatisfaction . Perhaps, we the enlightened already know the answers – without the surveys.
Volunteers are eager to fill spiritual deserts in the prisons
CityServe, UnityCT, KairosCT, Prison Fellowship, Shiloh Prison Ministry, many volunteers, onsite assigned pastors – all wish to assist and address the “spiritual deserts” in the current carceral system ‘s milieu and the carceral inmate “mindset “ : something to do, something to read, something to believe in, something to hope toward, something of a better future in this existence and the next. Great aspirationally.
Let’s applaud vigorously all such energies, efforts, and endeavors. However, and with no intention to be dismissive in the least, all will be incomplete and insufficient for major, for lasting impact. Let’s examine WHY, which follows.
Our entire Community must embrace a comprehensive overhaul of the entire system
Because we as an entire HOPEspacious and MINDspacious community must embrace, embody, and embrain a complete overhaul toward a comprehensive “ Prison HEcoSystem “ addressing every nuance and detail of this complexity with a bold, novel model, launching a paradigm of pre vention, alternatives, incarceration for real – life rejuvenation and restoration, and vigilant aftercare and follow through which promotes H-ealth-S – body, mind, spirit, and soul – with robust choice architectures AND eradication of all stigmas / pejorative labels and perpetual epicycles of self stigmatization, dependence, co dependencies, and worse, endless epicycles of ill – literacy and self denigration afflicting so many, again and again.
If this fits Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity (repetition and repetition of the same behaviors, same pathways with the expectation of different outcomes), then pray that we will collectively, meta consciously stop the insanity – RIGHT NOW. Humans have made the labels: prisons / jails/ inmates / offenders / jailbirds / outcastes / addicts / crazies / punishments / sentences / solitary / tortures / death.. They are all institutionalized and human – perseverated / habituated.
Let us human – unmake each and every one of these unenlightened traditional and conventional methodologies toward our aspirational, imagined BEST.