Reform, not discipline and punish

With the presidential election looming on the horizon, candidates are bringing to light problems with the American economy, foreign policy and even contraception.

But one topic that has been largely ignored is the American prison crisis.

A 2008 study showed that while the United States contains only 5 percent of the world population, it has about 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated population.  

And this huge percentage isn’t just terrible for its own sake. Every year, the U.S. spends about $60 billion on its prison system.

These numbers are absolutely ludicrous. I know we love to be number one in everything, but this is not one of those times we need to be on top.

And in addition to that, 60 percent of the inmates will commit another crime after being released. All of this begs the question: What the hell are we doing wrong?

The answer is actually pretty simple: We’re focusing too much on punishment.

A majority of our penal system focuses on punishing, with the idea that jail should be so horrible that no one will ever commit a crime for fear of being sent there.

But the thing is, professional psychologists say this isn’t even close to helping. Many psychologists agree that positive reinforcement is a better way to teach.

In many cases, consequential punishment backfires and causes the prisoner to resent any sort of rehabilitation or retaliate in negative ways.

Basically, we send criminals to places notorious for rape and violent crimes, and then we act completely surprised when they come out even worse than when they went in.

How could they not?

I’m sure a few of you are thinking that I have some sort of soft spot for killers and other prisoners, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Harming another human being in any way is something I find completely disgusting, and it doesn’t make it any better when our prison system does it.

We need to work on ways that not only treat prisoners humanely, but also help to rehabilitate them to be functioning adults in the real world.

I’m not saying we should let serial killers off with a stiff warning and a journal for them to write about their feelings. But what we’re doing isn’t working.

A country that’s taking rehabilitation seriously with great results is Norway.

With cooking courses, larger windows for the viewing pleasures of inmates and much more humane treatments, Halden prison in Norway seems like an absolute vacation.

But with only 20 percent of criminals returning to prisons after their stay, this vacation-destination appears to be actually doing something.

Of course, Norway’s crime problems are much less prevalent than America’s. Nevertheless, with results such as those at Halden, America should probably be  taking notes.

Who could have known that treating people like human beings would actually make them act like one?      

­— kevsjack@indiana.edu