Defined Terms

A 'Negative Prisoner Mindset' due to Facing A Lengthy Prison Sentence, Exacerbated by Associating with other Criminals.  'Ipso facto' some Inmates acquire further criminal techniques

 

Precious little chronicled evidence is available of what 'new criminal skills' that some inmates acquire during the six-hours-a-day circa that they cohabit with other prisoners whilst serving medium or long term sentences.  Such inmates would be unlikely to 'spill the beans' on such learned skills, especially as it would be disfavoured by those prisoners that shared their modus operandi. 

'He fell in with the wrong crowd.'  Or 'he was led astray' are familiar proverbs.  Prima facie one could suppose that faced with a 5+ years incarceration and familiarising with other prisoners with similar sentences would not be a recipe for early rehabilitation.

Below is an extract from SOCIETY’S RESPONSE TO THE VIOLENT OFFENDER - Australian Institute of Criminology - First published in 1989, subsequently updated:

"The unintended consequences of imprisonment

While there may be good reasons to imprison violent offenders, rehabilitation is not one of them. Despite the occasional (and patently erroneous) reference to the 'motel- like accommodation' of prisons, the prison environment can be highly threatening. The self-doubt and low self-esteem which often give rise to violence tend to be reinforced. Prisons have been described as analogous to jungles, where power and exploitation are dominant values.

Almost invariably, prison has serious adverse consequences for the offender. The deprivation of liberty can be an extremely stressful experience. Many prisoners, whose propensity to maladaptive behaviour may have landed them in trouble in the first place, experience great difficulty in adjusting to a prolonged period of custodial confinement.

The stresses induced by confinement may have adverse effects on a prisoner's physical and mental health. These stresses may be compounded by separation from family and friends. Indeed, it can be argued that the subculture of most Australian prisons emphasises aggression as a coping strategy. Assault, rape, self- mutilation and suicide all occur within prisons. Threat, intimidation and force are common currency. The popular injunction 'if you can't do the time, don't do the crime' obscures the fact that the prison setting may be a futile environment in which to seek to instil such values as warmth, trust and empathy, precisely those qualities which are appropriate to life as a respectable member of the community."

Below is an extract of the section titled "REHABILITATION " in SOCIETY’S RESPONSE TO THE VIOLENT OFFENDER - Australian Institute of Criminology - First published in 1989, subsequently updated:

"Many aspects of the prison environment are regarded as impediments to rehabilitation.

The basic prison setting is not conducive to the acquisition of social skills and to the learning of adaptive behaviour appropriate to resuming life as a responsible member of the general community. The experience of incarceration can be extremely stressful and humiliating, not the most ideal setting for developing self-esteem. In the custodial setting, violent offenders are exposed to few appropriate role models. Indeed, for well over a century, prisons have been referred to as 'schools of crime'."

Prisons and detention centres are breeding grounds for criminality

In 1989, the then U.K. home secretary, Douglas Hurd, said thatprison is an expensive way of making bad people worse.

Many Prisons Are At Breaking Point With Associated Problems

The Huffington Post article What Death Penalty Opponents Don’t Get (2014) chronicles irrefutable arguments why there is no logical argument to expend $150,000 pa for each prisoner who is deemed Never To Be Released.  Many of these sadistic murderers 'die a thousand deaths' confined to a small steel cage until they die.  Their Quality of Life is often negative due to sever depression.  The Public Purse should be expending the associated $150,000 p.a. per such inmate on health and education of current and future taxpayers.

The Marshall Project reports that most Lifers deemed never to be released are dying a thousand deaths; experiencing a manic depressive QOL

Four Gears of Early Rehabilitation and Release argues that Punishment/Deterrent should be swift, frightening and painful, and not a burden on the Public Purse.  Thence followed by a prescribed rehabilitation programme to ideally get the convicted felon back into the workforce or into a drug rehabilitation programme.  One size does not fit all.

Jail Is The University Of Crime chronicles seven credible investigations which conclude that Jail Is The University Of Crime; therefore counter-productive and a considerable waste of the Public Purse that rarely assists Rehabilitate humans less fortunate in the -

*        genes they received; and

*        parental mentoring that they did not receive.

 

 

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