Research Paper focusing on prison life and strategies to decrease

Focusing on prison life and strategies to decrease recidivism upon an inmate's release from prison - Research Paper Example Any action against the law comes under consideration as a crime and that person is liable of punishment. However, it can come under many arguments that whether a person’s behavior or perspective related to performing crime changes after getting punishment for the crimes he committed. Crime is a grave subject in the twenty first century that leaves an indelible imprint on not only the victims but also the person behind the crime and society as a whole. Due to the acceleration in the crime rate and criminals, the need for more and more prisons comes under the observation. The justice system in a society is present in order to alleviate crime and provide security to the denizens, which is their fundamental right. United States of America is one of those countries that have strong and powerful justice system. There are two types of courts, one is state court, and the other is federal court, and two kinds of trials, namely criminal and civil in U.S. justice system (Pierce, 2006). T here are many types of justice systems, out of which Criminal justice system is one to mention. The criminal justice system comprises of many aspects and prison is its one important feature. Imprisonment is a punishment given by law to a person who has committed crime. There are many reasons for having a prison in the U.S. Retribution is one of the prime reasons to have prison. The criminals involved in social crimes such as robbery, kidnapping, rape, murder etc comes under penalty by imprisoning them. By holding-back the criminals from their independence, law force them to pay for the loss or damage they made to the society. Another reason of having prisons in U.S. is incapacitation. In order to make the society free from the terror of criminals and to curb their activities, authorities throw the criminals into the prisons. Fear of punishment may develop amongst the prisoners while in the prison, which acts as a caution to prevent them from performing crimes in the future. This pur pose of prisons comes under the name of Deterrence. One more key intention of having prisons is Rehabilitation. It includes a series of activities and procedures where criminals undergo therapies in order to bring a change in their thinking and mindset. A psychologist or community activists are helpful in achieving this motive. Education and skill development programs can also play a vital role in transforming the criminals into disciplined denizens (Pierce, 2006). Though the purpose of making prisons is present in a fruitful manner, it is not necessary that the conditions to accomplish these objectives come under witness. The conditions of U.S. prisons seem to be horrible. According to sources (Barkan & Bryjak, 2011), the employee responsible for keeping an eye and managing prisoners tend to abuse them verbally, physically, mentally and emotionally. It has also come under observation that the prisoners get inhuman treatment by the authorities. In addition, discrimination on basis o f race and color exists between the prisoners and they form separate groups on basis of it. Food quality in the prisons of U.S. is low, causing multiple health issues, some of which results in deaths (Barkan & Bryjak, 2011). Convicts in high security prisons, come under deprivation from fresh atmosphere and socializing, as they stay in loneliness inside an undersized, dark room for whole day where they feel