In 2018, President Donald Trump signed the bipartisan First Step Act, which centers around criminal justice reform and rehabilitation for the formerly incarcerated. Its ratification was a long time coming, as increasingly polarized political ideologies continue to be a leading cause of delay in prison reform legislation. Mixed reviews on the subject, especially from conservatives, remain in spite of lower recidivism rates since the First Step Act’s passing.
Due to support from infamous democrats such as California governor Gavin Newsom, many right-wing politicians have hesitated to put their support behind prison reform, instead opting for a ‘tough on crime’ mindset. Catch-and-release policing, light sentencing for violent crimes, Coronavirus clemency protocols, as well as other under-incarceration policies have left many conservatives advocating for increased incarceration and punitive punishment. Their blood rightly boils for justice unserved.
This outlook, though, can blind many conservatives to the American prison system’s desperate need for change.
Prison reform may seem to be in conflict with the noble pursuit of justice, but this is not necessarily the case. The purpose of reform isn’t to reduce incarceration or promote lighter sentencing, but to increase rehabilitative and reintegrative practices within the existing prison environment.
Seneca the Younger once quipped that it is ‘…a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen..’ and that this is ‘… the common right of humanity’. The inmate population is a fallen, yet largely forgotten demographic of the United States. Shoved to the fringes of our collective memory, approximately 1,230,100 human beings are currently sitting behind bars in American prisons.
While incarceration is a legitimate form of punishment, the implications of prison time extend beyond the loss of the ability to do as one pleases. American prisons directly augment a myriad of issues in those they incarcerate, which ultimately lead to increased crime rates in the long term and obstruct the overall aspiration towards justice.
The dysfunction began with a change in mentality. According to prison reform expert Craig Haney, the United States “…moved abruptly in the mid-1970s from a society that justified putting people in prison on the basis of the belief that incarceration would somehow facilitate productive re-entry into the free world to one that used imprisonment merely to inflict pain on wrongdoers […] disable criminal offenders […] or to keep them far away from the rest of society”.
This assessment is not untrue; there is strong correlation between the American prison system and repeat offenders. Boasting the highest recidivism rate in the world, around 70% of ex-cons return to prison at least more than once, and nearly 1 in every 100 U.S. citizens is currently incarcerated.
It’s not to imply the entire justice system is motivated by revenge, but there are undeniable factors both within prison and post release that contribute to high recidivism rates. Three significant contributors to recidivism include mental health and substance abuse issues, family and community alienation, and lack of opportunity following release.
Following the War on Drugs campaign in the ’70s, the U.S. judicial system has acted as if there is a binary choice between criminalization of drug use and treating addiction. Around 65% of the U.S. prison population struggles with substance abuse disorders, and another 20% who aren’t diagnosed were under the influence at the time of their crime. In order to combat the severity of SUDs, clinical treatment, therapy, and relapse prevention courses are recommended by licensed healthcare providers. In contrast, most prisons prescribe medications for withdrawal symptoms, if any treatment at all. Drug and alcohol addictions are severe, lasting disorders; given that over 40% of crimes committed annually are drug-related, failing to target this issue has had severe consequences.
Most psychologists assert that mental illness is nearly inevitable to those incarcerated, hypothesizing that American-style imprisonment results in Post-Incarceration Syndrome, a lasting disorder which mirrors PTSD. The punitive nature of incarceration in the United States has been linked to a spike in clinical depression and other mental health issues, and around half of inmates currently suffer from mental illness. Treatment for these issues is typically inconsistent and ineffective, as many features of U.S. prisons are contributing factors. The quarantine which resulted from the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic proved that isolation, even surrounded by the comforts of one’s home, promotes anxiety and depression; it’s no surprise that isolation in a prison environment produces far more damaging results.
These mental health issues are further compounded by community and familial alienation. Divorce rates spike when a spouse is incarcerated, and many convicts are unable to see or have meaningful relationships with their children while behind bars. It’s no surprise that prison time in the U.S. often causes a decrease in social skills, and a loss of personal identity, self worth and value. Studies corroborate this claim, finding that suicide rates double within the first three years following release from prison compared to that of the general populace.
Many corrections officers in the United States, having limited training compared to their global counterparts, lack knowledge on how to deal with issues such as mental illness, suicide, and even day-to-day treatment of inmates. Depending on the jurisdiction, U.S. corrections officers may only receive weeks of instruction compared to 1-2 years abroad. Training in the EU, for example, adheres to the UN Nelson Mandela Rules, which focus specifically on human rights and crime prevention. Studies find a strong correlation between increased corrections officer training with reduced recidivism rates.
Once free, many former inmates struggle with finding a means of supporting themselves. Social stigma as well as liability purposes prevent many from getting good jobs, and unemployment rates currently sit at around 60% for the formerly incarcerated. Largely regarded as rejects of society, many ex-cons find scant motivation to reform their behavior and end up reverting back to old habits, including addictive and criminal tendencies.
It’s apparent that reform is sorely needed in the American prison system, and a few nations have made significant progress in that area.
Norway, home to one of the lowest recidivism rates in the world, overhauled their system a few decades ago following a period of extreme violence within prison walls. Their new policies prioritize reintegration from day one, and include the philosophy of treating all inmates with dignity and respect. Though their freedom is taken from them, residents of Norwegian prisons are not so far removed from normal life that they lose their sense of humanity; the nature of American prisons, on the other hand, lies in such stark contrast to normal life that many inmates forget how to function in civilized society. The Scandinavian nation has found benefit in these practices, backed by the nearly 50% decrease in recidivism rates since these reforms were implemented.
The possibility of reform is not limited to Europe, either. Belize also claims one of the lowest recidivism rates in the world at only about 15%, following similar restorative justice-based reforms. The Kolbe Foundation, which took over the administration of Belize Central prison in 2002, features academic and vocational programs, cognitive behavior therapy, and education on drugs, alcohol, and HIV and AIDS. Its focus on community reintegration seeks to change the criminal mentality in offenders rather than serving as a mere warehouse to contain them.
This is undoubtedly an issue that concerns every conservative-leaning American. While a number of republican lawmakers still insist on a harsh, ‘eye for an eye’ modus operandi, this pressing issue is not totally unseen by the right.
Republican and Christian Chuck Colson, who, after being incarcerated himself, founded the Prison Fellowship, one of the most prominent prison reform organizations in America. Seeking to bring Christ to inmates across the U.S., Prison Fellowship’s mission centers around the belief that “..through the power of the Gospel[,] even the most broken people and situations can be made whole again”.
Some individuals, such as Ted Bundy or Jeffery Dahamer, have truly given themselves over to the pursuit of evil; but these cases, though immortalized in popular culture, are not representative of the entire prison population.
Former Belizean Chief Justice Dr. Abdulai Conteh summed it up by explaining to the Supreme Court in 2006 that “…imprisonment after conviction should only result in the loss of personal liberty for the duration of the sentence as punishment for the crime for which conviction was obtained. It should not and must not shed the human dignity of the convicted for that way leads assuredly to the repeated offender syndrome.”
To that end, the collaboration of both the liberal and the conservative-leaning is required for the prison system to gain some semblance of social sustainability. The issue of prison reform is one which deals with the fundamental concepts of justice and human rights; the defense of these values must be a mission not shared by one single political party or ideology, but by every citizen of the United States.
If the United States insists on utilizing incarceration as a main instrument of punishment, it is then responsible for giving convicts eligible for release the best chance at rehabilitation both inside and out of prison.
Knowing that whatever patterns of behavior, mentalities, and illnesses fomented by American prisons will eventually be let loose back into society, the question remains: If conservatives remain inactive in this issue, are they willing to deal with the consequences?
