Why is it so difficult to change existing prison systems and the entire regime of incarceration?
There are many reasons. Here are 21 of them:
1. Prison systems throughout history have been slow to change.
2. Prisons literally hide the problem -- without trying -- simply by location, security, isolation, architecture and procedures.
3. "Out of sight, out of mind." Most folks spend very little time worrying about prisoners.
4. Prisoners are the least popular segment of society and have little voice.
5. Many members of the public want prison to be a terrible experience or lack sympathy with the plight of prisoners. The public through the principle of less eligibility continually demands that prison be worse than the lowest free lifestyle.
6. Taxpayers do not often enough reflect upon the great costs of incarceration and the potential financial, economic and fiscal advantages of major reforms and alternative punishments.
7. Criminal sentences involving many years in prison foreclose other options for those years.
8. There is a significant time lag between the sentence imposed and the results obtained by that punishment, meaning the public really does not know what it is getting for tax dollars spent on long prison sentences.
9. Judicial corporal punishment has been out of favor long enough for the society to have completely forgotten its benefits compared to massive incarceration. We simply as a society do not know what else to do. Judges do not have all of the punishment options they should have.
10. The War on Drugs is being fought -- and lost -- with incarceration, in futile attempts to attack the supply rather than the demand for illegal drugs.
11. Politicians get elected for being tough on crime and lose when perceived as soft on crime.
12. Prisons effectively incapacitate criminals from committing more crimes on the outside, which has great societal value. Crimes committed in prison are not as much of a concern.
13. Prisoners tend to be inarticulate, uneducated and unskilled at explaining their predicament.
14. Private prison companies and correctional officer unions have a financial interest in keeping prisons full.
15. Legislation is needed at the federal and state levels if change is to proceed. Prison industries cannot thrive, for example, until the federal government changes federal statutes restricting the sale and transportation across state lines of prison-made goods.
16. Prisons are at the receiving end of the entire criminal justice system and have almost no power over the earlier stages.
17. The fortress architecture of prisons is very impressive and implies effective control.
18. Prisoners do not often talk about their experiences in prison to people in a position to change the system.
19. As a society, we've accepted a failed social experiment as the norm and do not fully appreciate that punishments change over the centuries.
20. Sometimes, long sentences give prisoners time to grow up, obtain more education and realize the error of their younger ways.
21. Death penalties have decreased over the last several decades. Death Row inmates typically spend over a decade on Death Row before their cases are finally resolved.
There are many reasons. Here are 21 of them:
1. Prison systems throughout history have been slow to change.
2. Prisons literally hide the problem -- without trying -- simply by location, security, isolation, architecture and procedures.
3. "Out of sight, out of mind." Most folks spend very little time worrying about prisoners.
4. Prisoners are the least popular segment of society and have little voice.
5. Many members of the public want prison to be a terrible experience or lack sympathy with the plight of prisoners. The public through the principle of less eligibility continually demands that prison be worse than the lowest free lifestyle.
6. Taxpayers do not often enough reflect upon the great costs of incarceration and the potential financial, economic and fiscal advantages of major reforms and alternative punishments.
7. Criminal sentences involving many years in prison foreclose other options for those years.
8. There is a significant time lag between the sentence imposed and the results obtained by that punishment, meaning the public really does not know what it is getting for tax dollars spent on long prison sentences.
9. Judicial corporal punishment has been out of favor long enough for the society to have completely forgotten its benefits compared to massive incarceration. We simply as a society do not know what else to do. Judges do not have all of the punishment options they should have.
10. The War on Drugs is being fought -- and lost -- with incarceration, in futile attempts to attack the supply rather than the demand for illegal drugs.
11. Politicians get elected for being tough on crime and lose when perceived as soft on crime.
12. Prisons effectively incapacitate criminals from committing more crimes on the outside, which has great societal value. Crimes committed in prison are not as much of a concern.
13. Prisoners tend to be inarticulate, uneducated and unskilled at explaining their predicament.
14. Private prison companies and correctional officer unions have a financial interest in keeping prisons full.
15. Legislation is needed at the federal and state levels if change is to proceed. Prison industries cannot thrive, for example, until the federal government changes federal statutes restricting the sale and transportation across state lines of prison-made goods.
16. Prisons are at the receiving end of the entire criminal justice system and have almost no power over the earlier stages.
17. The fortress architecture of prisons is very impressive and implies effective control.
18. Prisoners do not often talk about their experiences in prison to people in a position to change the system.
19. As a society, we've accepted a failed social experiment as the norm and do not fully appreciate that punishments change over the centuries.
20. Sometimes, long sentences give prisoners time to grow up, obtain more education and realize the error of their younger ways.
21. Death penalties have decreased over the last several decades. Death Row inmates typically spend over a decade on Death Row before their cases are finally resolved.