The Pros And Cons Of Prison Rehabilitation

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The idea, forwarded by many critics of prison rehabilitation, is, and was, that rehabilitative efforts of the prison system will not work due to the fact that the inmates were never viable members of society to begin with. This idea was expressed by many critics of the rehabilitation philosophy of corrections, but it may have been best expressed by Norval Morris, when he said that treatment in prison should only be available to those inmates who truly want to change their behaviors (Mays & Winfree, 2009). This idea may have some basis in fact, when considering that at the pinnacle of the rehabilitation movement in the 1960s, many prison experiences riots and uprisings by the inmates (Mays & Winfree, 2009). If rehabilitation was really working, …show more content…
If this is true, as some have argued, then these offenders have an aberrant personality, and therefore do not suffer from an illness, and cannot be cured by normal means (McRae, 2011). What this means is that offenders, those deemed to have this antisocial personality disorder, cannot be cured of this, and as such, should be left in jail. Another way to look at this is only the offenders, who truly seek help to fix their problems, should be admitted into rehabilitation programs, and these offenders should be treated in a hospital setting, rather than a prison (McRae, 2011). If this premises is true, the critics of prison rehabilitation programs are correct. Indeterminate sentences, for the purpose of rehabilitation, do not work unless the offender is truly interested in rehabilitating themselves. This, of course, is not the only reason prison rehabilitation programs fail to …show more content…
The success, which these programs have shown, is not sufficient to continue to sentence offenders to them. The critics are also correct in stating that many of the offenders in these programs cannot not be rehabilitated, due to the fact that they never were viable, contributing members of society to begin with. Offenders have to see the need for, and have the desire to change their ways before any rehabilitation program will work. As I have heard, for most of my adult life, you can only help those who want to be helped. If they do not want the help, you are wasting time and money trying to change
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