The Purpose of Prison: Rehabilitation or Punishment?

A Brief History of Prisons

The use of imprisonment as a punishment dates back thousands of years. Some of the earliest evidence of prisons comes from ancient Egypt, where they were used to detain people before trial or to hold debtors. In ancient Rome, imprisonment was also used before trial or as a sentence for minor crimes.

The widespread use of prisons as a major form of criminal punishment really began in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Before that time, punishments for serious crimes tended to be corporal (like whipping or mutilation) or capital (execution). The Enlightenment ideals of the 1700s started to shift thinking toward more humanistic forms of punishment. Imprisonment came to be seen as a more civilized alternative.

Some key developments in the history of prisons:

• 1790s – The Walnut Street Jail and Eastern State Penitentiary in Pennsylvania introduced solitary confinement and rigid schedules as a form of rehabilitation.
• 1820s – New York’s Auburn Penitentiary implemented both solitary confinement at night and group labor during the day. This “Auburn system” was widely copied.
• 1870s – The Irish system focused on education and training over isolation. This was meant to better reform and reintegrate prisoners.
• 1900s – Reform schools, juvenile detention centers, women’s reformatories, and psychiatric prisons were established. Classification and programming for special populations became more common.
• 1970s – The “nothing works” era led to decreased funding for rehabilitation programs in prisons. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws also caused prison populations to swell.
• 2000s – Budget crises forced states to reconsider alternatives to incarceration like probation, parole, electronic monitoring, and community corrections. Interest in rehabilitation programs has re-emerged.

Purposes and Goals of Imprisonment

There are several philosophical justifications and goals commonly given for the use of prisons as punishment:

Retribution

Retribution is the idea that offenders deserve to suffer or repay their debt to society. Imprisonment uses deprivation of freedom and rights as repayment for the harm caused by crime. The conditions and length of sentences are proportional to the severity of the offense.

Deterrence

Deterrence aims to discourage future crime by making an example out of offenders. Under this theory, the unpleasant experience of being incarcerated dissuades people from committing crimes to avoid going to prison again. Harsher prison conditions and sentences are believed to have a stronger deterrent effect.

Incapacitation

Incapacitation seeks to prevent future crimes by physically removing offenders from society during their sentence. Prison isolates offenders from the general public and deprives them of the means and opportunities to re-offend while incarcerated. Lengthy sentences can permanently incapacitate chronic offenders.

Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation focuses on using incarceration to provide treatment and reform offenders. The goal is to address underlying factors like addiction, lack of education, mental illness, or skill deficits that contribute to criminal behaviors. Programming aims to build skills for successful reentry into society and lawful behavior after release.

Restoration

Restoration models emphasize repairing the harm caused by the offense through reconciling with victims and the community. Prisons can facilitate restoration through victim-offender mediation, community service, restitution, and healing circles that bring victims and offenders together. The goal is to mend social connections damaged by crime.

Debates About Achieving These Goals

There are differing perspectives on how well prisons actually achieve those intended purposes in practice:

Impact on Public Safety

• Do prisons reduce crime through incapacitation and deterrence?
  • Some argue imprisoning chronic offenders containing them protects public safety.
  • Critics note most prisoners will reenter society eventually. High recidivism rates show many commit new crimes post-release.
• Does imprisoning nonviolent offenders for public order crimes reduce serious crimes?
  • Proponents think prosecuting minor crimes prevents more severe ones.
  • Opponents think it overburdens prisons without improving public safety.

Cost-Effectiveness

• Is incarceration the most cost-effective means of punishment?
  • Advocates argue prisons still cost less than the damage crimes cause.
  • Critics say the financial costs are too high relative to uncertain public safety benefits. And incarceration produces many indirect costs too.

Fairness and Proportionality

• Are sentence lengths and conditions proportionate to offenses?
  • Some argue harsh prison conditions and mandatory minimums fit the crime.
  • Critics contend lengthy sentences and deprivations constitute excessive cruelty that doesn’t fit nonviolent crimes.
• Does imprisonment create unacceptable racial, social, and economic disparities?
  • Advocates believe sentencing guidelines and laws apply equally to all.
  • Opponents note poorer and minority populations are disproportionately arrested and imprisoned.

Effectiveness for Rehabilitation

• Can prisons reform offenders or do they exacerbate criminality?
  • Supporters argue prisons can be rehabilitative with appropriate programming and treatment.
  • Critics counter that prison environments often have criminogenic effects like learned behaviors and stigmatization that inhibit rehabilitation.
• Does taking away freedom and rights affect the dignity and rights of prisoners?
  • Some believe controlling privileges in prison is necessary for safety, order, and inducing reform.
  • Others argue many deprivations and abusive practices constitute human rights violations.

Alternatives to Imprisonment

Due to high costs and uncertain outcomes, many jurisdictions have implemented alternatives to imprisoning lower-risk offenders:

• Community corrections – Probation, parole, halfway houses, and community service allow offenders to live in the community with supervision instead of incarceration.
• Fines – Monetary fines punish offenders through loss of income proportional to the crime but avoid incarceration costs. Critics argue this unduly burdens the poor.
• Electronic monitoring – Radio frequency transmitters, GPS devices, and alcohol monitoring can track an offender’s location and alcohol use while living normally. This also reduces prison populations and costs.
• Rehabilitation programs – Instead of prison, some offenders are sentenced to complete court-ordered treatment programs for issues like addiction, anger management, vocational skills, and education.
• Restorative justice – Bringing together victims, offenders, and community members to discuss the harm caused and how to make amends repairs community bonds without imprisonment.
• Decriminalization – Removing criminal penalties for minor, nonviolent offenses like possession of marijuana frees up prison resources for serious crimes posing real public safety risks.

Key Statistics on U.S. Prisons

Total prison population	1,833,602
Imprisoned per 100,000 population	550
People in local jails	731,570
Private prisons	116,000
State prisons	1,240,823
Federal prisons	153,751
Prisoners serving life sentences	203,865
Prisoners serving life without parole	53,290
Youth in juvenile detention	43,580
Expenditures on corrections	$88 billion
Prison employee unions	72% of prisons
Occupancy rate	103% over capacity
Average cost per inmate	$34,000
Recidivism rate within 5 years	76%

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2022 data

Key Issues Facing U.S. Prisons

The U.S. prison system faces a range of pressing issues:

• Overcrowding – Most facilities hold more inmates than they were designed for, straining resources and exacerbating problems.
• Understaffing – Correctional staff shortages lead to inadequate supervision, safety risks, and denying prisoner access to programming.
• Violence – Gangs and lack of staff to control prisoners contribute to high rates of assaults. Solitary confinement to control violent inmates may worsen mental health.
• Poor Health Care – Prisons often provide inadequate physical and mental health treatment, made worse by overcrowding.
• Aging Population – A large and growing elderly prisoner population with greater medical needs strains health care resources.
• Drug Addiction – A large percentage of prisoners have substance abuse issues but lack access to sufficient treatment programs during incarceration.
• Mental Illness – Prisons have become de facto mental health institutions with limited resources to care for inmates with psychiatric disorders.
• Recidivism – Most prisoners are rearrested within 5 years, showing incarceration alone doesn’t reform behaviors or facilitate reentry.
• Solitary Confinement – Prolonged isolation for disciplinary reasons may amount to torture and exacerbate mental illness.
• Privately Run Prisons – For-profit prison companies incentivize cutting costs and lobby for policies that boost imprisonment.

Conclusion

Incarceration serves important purposes like public safety, deterrence, and retribution for criminal acts. But excessive reliance on imprisonment for a wide range of nonviolent acts strains government budgets and disproportionately impacts disadvantaged groups. Evidence shows prison frequently fails to reform behaviors as intended. Alternative rehabilitation programs that address root causes of crime while better supporting reentry and still holding offenders accountable may better serve all involved. But reform remains slow due to political debates. Imprisonment will likely remain a fundamental pillar of the justice system for serious crimes, but greater balance with other less punitive community-based interventions could improve outcomes.