Ideas For Democracy:  Goal #19

Prisons need to be owned and operated only by government and designed to implement a comprehensive community restorative justice program to safely return offenders to the community as law-abiding citizens.

 

Citizens who want real democracy will actively support this policy and vote for trustworthy candidates who actively support this policy.

 

IFD - policy:  We need to admit that our prison system and standards of criminal justice are obsolete and must be recast on a model of restorative justice principles.  The concept that being locked in a cell for a year or several years will cause a man or woman to become a better person is not consistent with our scientific knowledge of human nature, or of the human mind and emotional life.  We are built to work and play, to interact with others in a game of life with rules, most of them rather simple.  Being locked in a cell is not therapeutic.  It is destructive.  Being locked in a cell is torture, punishment and only punishment.  It is similar to our treatment of the mentally ill before 1750.  The patients were chained to stone walls.  So, we have replaced the chains with four immovable walls.

 

If we want no recidivism, no repeat offenses, then we need to limit the offenders freedom until they are really ready to return to a law-abiding community.  They must demonstrate that they regret the harm they caused, are willing to do what can be done to repair the damage or "make it right," and begin again to be an accepted and productive member of the community.  IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO RECOGNIZE THAT THERE IS NO SOUND SCIENCE THAT TELLS US HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE FOR ANY PARTICULAR OFFENDER TO ARRIVE AT THAT LEVEL OF PREPARATION.  When the court orders a sentence of three years (or five or ten or twenty), how do we know that the time period of the sentence is the time that is needed for that particular offender to be prepared to return?  It could be less.  It could be more than is necessary.  IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO RECOGNIZE THAT THE CURRENT MODEL OF SERVING A FIXED SENTENCE IS A MODEL OF PUNISHMENT.  AND BEING PUNITIVE ALL IT ACCOMPLISHES IS HURTING THE OFFENDER AS AN ACT OF RETRIBUTION OR REVENGE UPON THEM BY THE COMMUNITY.  Psychologists and sociologists have been trying to tell us for about a century that punishment itself does not reform a heart or rebuild a mind.  Usually it makes the punished person judge the punitive community and conclude that criminal acts are a justifiable response to that punitive community.  In order to bring about a change of heart and soul, and a cooperative spirit in the individual, they need to know that they are invited back into the community, ON THE TERMS REQUIRED FOR ALL LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS, PLUS SOME SPECIAL TERMS THAT ARISE FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THEIR OFFENDING BEHAVIOR.  On this basis, I recommend a re-structuring of our prison system so that it is directed toward preparing an offender for a return, only as a law-abiding citizen, to the community.  So long as they are not ready to return on those terms, they do not return.

 

We need to consider the possibility of open-ended sentences, required education and training, including the restorative justice process.  In this way, we are saying that we will not tolerate a repeat offense, and therefore you cannot return to the community until you have completed your work and demonstrated your readiness to live within the boundaries of the law.

 

I recommend a prison system in three levels that are characterized by the general progress of the inmates: 

A)  Introductory Placement:  All inmates are learning about the causes of their criminal behavior and the basic premises of a law-abiding society.  This level may be similar to a punitive correctional facility in that many of the inmates demonstrate a contemptuous and cynical or dismissive attitude toward restorative efforts.

 

B)  Education and Training:  All inmates are continuing improved understanding of criminal and law-abiding behavior, but are now also focused on educational and training programs to prepare for employment and social life in the law-abiding community.  Inmates at this level have accepted the value of restorative efforts.

 

C)  Graduation Program:  All inmates have progressed to a level where they can work on their individual plan for their social life and self-support in the community.  This level of their restorative program is directed toward graduation, the day when they receive a certificate and statement of the work they have done and written references and recommendations regarding their record of behavior and readiness to return to the community.

            Such a system should include community support also, genuine attention from the community that is not supervised by the same department that supervises the prison programs.