Prison Rehabilitation Essay

Rehabilitation using the arts and music.
Prisoners do illegal acts that lead them into that facility however do you really think by forcing them to do labour work will help these convicted criminals to become a clean again? Prisoners are to work in the prison industries programs that are meant to help them gain ‘technical skills’ and to develop ‘positive work habits’, (Source: Queensland Government, day of a prisoner). However that’s not the case, in unpublished state government records acquired by The Saturday Age it’s revealed that the re-offending rate for 2013-2014 is at a 10-year high of 40 per cent, up from a low of 34 per cent four years ago. There is surely something wrong in the Australian system as prison is used to ‘rehabilitate’
The most common examples that the inmates can choose from is fabrication, manufacturing of timber products, agriculture and horticulture programs also the meals served in the prison are made by the prisoners. However wouldn’t it be a better idea if prisoners were able to express their frustration and anger through a more therapeutic way rather than having to wake up every day do labour work? Maybe something like the arts? Or simply maybe just to be able to journal out their feelings.
The Rehabilitate Through the Arts program (RTA) in America founded by Katherine Vockins in 1996 at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility has been surprisingly successful in America. Shockingly 95% of detainees get out with a more stable mindset and hardly any of them re-offend.
The arts are effortlessly caricatured as a non-essential or, worse still, an unjustifiable luxury, specifically when taking place in a prison or a probation setting. But a mounting body of evidence suggests they can have a momentous impact on offenders' lives, predominantly in helping them move away from crime. Current research shows that there are therapeutic and educational benefits to prisoners who able to participate in creative activities while in prison. The greatness of what art does for prison inmates seems quite transparent, it provides accomplishments, offers a different avenue for self-expression than violence, builds confidence and
Dutton was serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for manslaughter in the 1970s. Soon after, he discovered theatre while at the Rehabilitate through the Arts. Following his release, he went on to the Yale School of Drama and stardom on stage, film, and television. (Source: The Guardian)
I believe this is a great establishment, it’s helping the prisoners in the most compassionate way possible. This institution should be made here in Australia also, with its high demand and the amount of successful stories being shared from this program in America. The RTA program is extremely effective, allowing prisoners to express themselves through the arts to allow them to be reading and writing their own literature, this is what should be in every prison, this is what prison should be about; contentment. Plus the success rates of this program is extremely high.
Prisoners could end up being like Charles with this program, he was a murderer and look at where he ended up; at the Yale School of Drama. Rehabilitation is about changing one’s self to become a better person, giving prisoners chances like this is what ‘rehabilitation’ is all