History Of Prison Reform

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Various forms of prison reform have been happening in both domestic and international governments for the last few centuries. Yet here in the United States, the prison population is becoming an alarming issue, one that is so alarming that leaders on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill are coming together for a movement called #Cut50. This movement, aims to reduce the extremely large and growing prison population by fifty percent by the year 2025. Through various reform programs and rehabilitation techniques, the goal of reducing our prison population within the next decade could become a reality, but more than just a few programs can do this. In the article Envisioning a Broader Role for Philanthropy in Prison Reform, Jennifer L. Bryan …show more content…
(Bryan, Haldipur, Martin and Ullrich, 2015) have been around since the early colonies. Yet other methods, such as parole (early release from jail) have only been around since the middle too late 1800’s. This shows that progress, just like time, moves forward for prison reform efforts. Bryan notes though that some such as Robin Martinson, who was a sociologist that wrote a piece as a proponent of prison reform, that could slow or even halt the efforts. (Bryan etal., 2015, pg. 574) Now one would normally ask why would you want to slow or halt prison reform, and I believe that the research this gentleman did showed that at that point in time, prison reform programs and rehabilitation techniques did not have positive results, showing a waste of money towards these programs. This in turn led what was called a tough on crime initiative in the late 1980’s and 90’s, which included but was not limited to mandatory prison time for drug offenses. With this tough on crime initiative led by the government, the prison population …show more content…
or “How does this affect the social welfare aspect of helping former convicts?” Some will be able to tell immediately, that as a social worker we have the opportunity and power to intervene and possibly be part of the reason some do not go to prison, through programs for education, vocational and life skills, work programs, substance abuse counseling and housing. All of these programs, which will benefit and prosper the community that these individuals come from, in turn creating and establishing a positive impact which all equals less prisoners in prison. There will be proponents of these reform programs, such as budgets or the companies that the private prisons are owned by, but the goal at the end of the day is the same: to cut the prison population by fifty percent by the year 2025. Prison reform starts creating a better community in today’s world, by showing former offenders that there is help out there, and that their personal future is their own, and what they choose to do is their own decision that may be impacted by a source other than themselves. As social workers, our job is to help the individual to better themselves. So at the end of the day, the social worker just points them in
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