Welcome to Mission Possible.
Thanks for your interest in prison reform and supported release programs. Let's begin with a short history of the prison system in the U.S.
Remember the cross of Christ? In Biblical times people who committed crimes, or were thought to have done so, were stoned, whipped, branded, even cruicified. Even children were subject to such tortures. Young and old alike often died from disease before serving out their sentence. Well, the world had gotten a little more civilized by the 18th Century. By then the death penalty was reserved for those who had committed murder or other such terrible crime. Burglars, theives and the like were sent to work camps or were shipped off to British Colonies such as America or Australia. (Yes, we're mostly all decended from some sort of crook) By the end of the century, prisoners at hard labor were being housed in prison hulks or ships. These ships were anchored at dock and prisoners returned to them at night to eat and sleep. Conditions on these hulks were terrible, as you might imagine, but the concept of housing prisoners away from society had a popular following. Prison hulks were the fore runners of modern day prisons.
Then in 1777, John Howard, founder of the Howard League, called for wide ranging prison reform. His reforms included paid prison staff, oversight of prisons, and proper sanitation and diet for prisoners. The resulting 1799 Peniteniary Act specified 1 inmate per cell with proper nutrition, sanitary conditions, silence, and hard labor. In 1877 prisons came under the control of the prison commission and were used to deter, not correct behavior leading to crimes. Men and women were no longer housed together and children and youth had their own faclities.
In 1933 the first "open prison" was built based on the concept brought forward by Sir Alex Patterson, who said, "you can not train a man to freedom in conditions of captivity." In 1948 the Criminal Justice Act abolished penal servitude, hard labor and flogging. And finally, in 1993 the prison system became an agency of the United States Government.
Today, prisons house about 1 out of every 100 residents in the U.S. That means that everyone knows more than one family whose loved one is in jail. Prisons often house 4 times the number of inmates the facilities were designed to hold. Facilities have achieved sanitation and nutrition goals, but inmates reenter society with few skills, no money and even less community support. Prisons are often run by private companies, but even still the cost to house 1 inmate for 1 year in jail ranges from $15,000 to $30,000 depending on facility. Sex offenders constitute a growing number of incarcerated individuals and find reentry nearly impossible as laws continue to restrict their ability to live and work in the free society to which they have been released. It's time for another prison reform. A reform that seeks not just to correct behavior, but to identify and cure underlying causes of such behavior. It's time we asked ourselves, "what causes someone to commit a sex crime, murder, robbery, etc., and what therapy can be brought to bear upon such a cause?"
Thanks for your interest in prison reform and supported release programs. Let's begin with a short history of the prison system in the U.S.
Remember the cross of Christ? In Biblical times people who committed crimes, or were thought to have done so, were stoned, whipped, branded, even cruicified. Even children were subject to such tortures. Young and old alike often died from disease before serving out their sentence. Well, the world had gotten a little more civilized by the 18th Century. By then the death penalty was reserved for those who had committed murder or other such terrible crime. Burglars, theives and the like were sent to work camps or were shipped off to British Colonies such as America or Australia. (Yes, we're mostly all decended from some sort of crook) By the end of the century, prisoners at hard labor were being housed in prison hulks or ships. These ships were anchored at dock and prisoners returned to them at night to eat and sleep. Conditions on these hulks were terrible, as you might imagine, but the concept of housing prisoners away from society had a popular following. Prison hulks were the fore runners of modern day prisons.
Then in 1777, John Howard, founder of the Howard League, called for wide ranging prison reform. His reforms included paid prison staff, oversight of prisons, and proper sanitation and diet for prisoners. The resulting 1799 Peniteniary Act specified 1 inmate per cell with proper nutrition, sanitary conditions, silence, and hard labor. In 1877 prisons came under the control of the prison commission and were used to deter, not correct behavior leading to crimes. Men and women were no longer housed together and children and youth had their own faclities.
In 1933 the first "open prison" was built based on the concept brought forward by Sir Alex Patterson, who said, "you can not train a man to freedom in conditions of captivity." In 1948 the Criminal Justice Act abolished penal servitude, hard labor and flogging. And finally, in 1993 the prison system became an agency of the United States Government.
Today, prisons house about 1 out of every 100 residents in the U.S. That means that everyone knows more than one family whose loved one is in jail. Prisons often house 4 times the number of inmates the facilities were designed to hold. Facilities have achieved sanitation and nutrition goals, but inmates reenter society with few skills, no money and even less community support. Prisons are often run by private companies, but even still the cost to house 1 inmate for 1 year in jail ranges from $15,000 to $30,000 depending on facility. Sex offenders constitute a growing number of incarcerated individuals and find reentry nearly impossible as laws continue to restrict their ability to live and work in the free society to which they have been released. It's time for another prison reform. A reform that seeks not just to correct behavior, but to identify and cure underlying causes of such behavior. It's time we asked ourselves, "what causes someone to commit a sex crime, murder, robbery, etc., and what therapy can be brought to bear upon such a cause?"
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