Coctional Educational Programs In Prisons

According to bjs.gov 67% of prisoners that are released get rearrested within three years. This means more than half of the people in prison right now, will reoffend. It may be because of drugs, or something more serious that could threaten the life of others. So how does one stop this recurrence from happening? The answer is quite simple, the prisons need to attempt to rehabilitate their prisoners. There needs to be programs in every prison that will help the prisoners to have a better life once they get out. No one wants to risk the lives of others by trapping a person in prison and never allowing them to do anything, causing them to be the same person they were before they entered. Of course, not every prisoner is going to respond the same
This will help their chances of getting a job when they get out and if they have a job, they are going to be less likely to reoffend. An article by Laura S. Abrams, a professor currently involved in several studies concerning juvenile justice and reentry, and Charles H. Lea III, a doctoral student at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, believes the same. According to the authors, “Correctional educational programs improve offenders’ outcomes in a variety of domains such as employment rates, wages, hours worked, and recidivism” (670). This is only going to help the prisoners. They need to have something that will help them get through their time, and help them when they get out. They need something to look forward to or they are just going to come out of prison and do the same thing over again that put them there. If they have a job coming out of prison, they are less likely to reoffend because they are going to be focused on their job. Prisoners who participated in educational programs had thirteen percent higher odds in getting a job than those who didn’t participate, reduced recidivism risk by forty three percent, lowered arrest rate to forty percent, and a nine percent lower incarceration (Abrams and Lea 671). These statistics show that education will help prisoners. It will lower all the risks that prisoners are faced with after prison. Who wouldn’t one want reduced recidivism risks and lower
Art is something that is relaxing and soothing for most people. It should be put in prisons for this reason. Art could help prisoners become less aggressive and calm them down. A study was taken in a women’s prison in Scotland where they installed an art program. According to Briege Nugent, a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh and Nancy Loucks, a graduate of the University of Kentucky, where she earned her B.A. in English, art in prison helps deal with anger, aggression, and improves writing skills, social skills, and working with others (359). This positive impact on the prisoners can help them overcome their problems. The art program would not be that costly and it is a great way to help the prisoners relax and calm down. It would be an escape from the terrible things they have done, hopefully changing their outlook on life. According to Nugent and Loucks, “The arts are a low cost, high tough, non-threatening intervention that have produced measurable results in the areas of reduction of psychopathological behavior, reduced incident rates, reduced recidivism, improved educational performance, and increased self-esteem” (358). This study at the Scotland prison proves that their would be no harm in putting an arts program in prisons. The only thing it could do is help the rehabilitation process. Prisons need to start working on ways to help the prisoners recover, not further punishing