Paste your essay in here…As everyone grows up knowing, if you violate the laws that were set in place in our society to keep everyone safe, you simply lose the rights you had before and are put in jail. But is there a line between punishment and being treated like an animal in cage? As said by the Economist “NO COUNTRY imprisons a larger share of its people than America. Its incarceration rate—693 of every 100,000—is nearly five times Britain’s, six times Canada’s and 15 times Japan’s.” Why is this? Does the quality of prison systems and the people working in them effect the crime rates in different countries? In this research paper we will be taking a closer look into the United States Prison system and comparing it with prison systems with much lower incarceration rates to see if what we have now is working or if changes need to be made.
Prison Systems are a hard thing to fix. There is a plethora of prisons in the USA and simply not a big enough budget to make all of them acceptable to human standards. There are about 7 billion peoples on this world and 9 million of those are in prisons. Out of that 9 million, 2.3 million are in United States prisons. Prisons are overcrowded and filled to capacity. Americas solution to this is making smaller rooms than ever before and even having prisoners share beds with multiple other inmates. According to Criminal Justice Degree Online, a study in 2006 found that the overcrowding in prisons can have a negative effect on the psychological
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state of inmates. Health is one of the most important things in a humans life. If we do not take care of our health we could become physically or mentally ill and lose the quality of life that is deserved by every single human incarcerated or not. Out of all the prisoners in the United States, 95% of men and women are diagnosed with various health conditions after they are put inside a prison. With all these prisoners ins such close proximity different diseases are passed on from inmate to inmate, and they are not receiving the correct health care deserve to fix this. On
top of the overpopulation and health issues, there is a huge sexual abuse problem. Most people may think that prison rape is only a major problem for female but in fact more than 200,000 men are raped behind bars every year. Inside these prisons the violence is even worse than on the streets. Group of inmates form gangs and torment other prisoners and there is nothing being done about this. After such harsh punishment you would think prisoners would never want to return after
being let out… but in fact its the opposite. About 68% of released prisoners return to jail within three years( USA Today) Why is this? Perhaps the American Prison System needs to reevaluate their inhumane methods a bit.
Lets take a look into Norways toughest prison- Halden Prison. Norway has a whole different outlook on how prisons should be, instead of isolating and
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punishing there inmates they prefer to rehabilitate them. Halden was opened in 2010 and although it is a maximum security prison, it has earned the title ‘ world
most humane prison.’ This is a prison of second chances and believe it or not, no life Sentences. As said by the prison Govenor, Are Hoidal – “They have done bad things, but they are not bad people.That's a really important distinction. they are human beings, we treat them with respect.” $90,000 is spent each year to house each prisoner, three times what is spent on inmates in the United States. To Norway this a good investment as the re-incarceration rate is less than 30 percent, half of what it is in the U.S at 67 percent. The outside of the prison has been described as looking like an average university campus. There are no cold concrete buildings here, instead they use different woods and plants to give it a welcoming vibe. When you go inside, its not much different. Each inmate is given a private room with a desk, TV, and even a mini fridge. Instead of spending their days in a solitary cage with no interaction, the inmates of Holden are expected to attend classes, participate in various activities in the gym, and even cook and eat meals together. Instead of plastic trays slid under the bars, the inmates here are allowed to use metal utensils (including knifes) and sit down together around a table like any ordinary meal. Instead of seeing the guards as the enemy, the inmates and guards have normal interactions and are seen as friends. These prisoners are taught to
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respect and trust each other. Instead of being punished and locked up for 23 hours a day they are learning about new skills social and academic that can help them integrate back into society when they have done their time. Unlike US prisoners
who get out right away and have violent tendencies, Halden inmates go back into society as exceptional citizens.
The philosophy of Halden Prison is in stark contrast to prisons in the U.S.
In the united states inmates are locked up and lose every basic human right such as privacy, normal interactions, and basic health care. Some might say that these prisoners deserve this harsh form of punishment but will that method make the U.S. prison system successful? Norways Prisons are built upon trust and second chances. The inmates have private rooms with basic human necessities, they have classes, and activities daily. After there sentence they are put back into society with new skills to help them thrive. I believe that America needs to start switching over to this philosophy and stop the hunger, violence, and over-population inside our prisons. Its unrealistic to be able to switch over to Norways method straight away, but with time I think America could do this and better the quality of life inside and outside of the prisons.