Prison Reform in the USA - Essay Example

In the article written by Robert Martinson entitled What Works? Questions and Answers About Prison Reform (Martinson 1974), he summarizes a series of scenarios where rehabilitation programs that are aimed at those incrassated in American prisons simply do not do what they were intended to accomplish. Martinson came to this conclusion based on his research which included a review of a book of studies conducted between 1945 to 1967 on offender rehabilitation entitled, The Effectiveness of Correctional Treatment: A Survey of Treatment Evaluation Studies. His subsequent analysis indicated that with a few exceptions, there was no appreciable positive effect on the rehabilitation of most prisoners. It was subsequently recognized both by Martinson himself and others who reviewed his original conclusion that this inference was academically flawed since they did not accurately reflect the evaluation studies or the reality of specific circumstances (Lipton 1998). The reasons were varied, but essentially only part of the available data was used in the report and some successful programs were not included in the analysis. Whatever the reasons, it was clear the conclusions Martinson memorialized in 1974 assumed essentially that nothing in the way of rehabilitation programs worked.

In evaluating male and female prisoners, the same conclusion was reached for both, mainly that most correction programs did not work and lacked both short-term and long-term effectiveness. In later studies however, it was recognized that the root cause of the initial incarceration needed to be addressed as well as the learning style of male and female inmates, in order to reduce the likelihood that treatment programs were not effective (Dowden & Andrews 1999). For example, effective programs for female inmates are needed to address such areas as victimization, abuse, parenting, and other issues that are primarily associated with females and their specific needs. This becomes even more important when considering that the female population in prisons is growing faster than the male population.

The conclusions that Martinson reached relative to what programs work in terms of prison rehabilitation, were distinctly pessimistic. Since Martinson’s initial report in 1974, there have been a significant amount of studies replicating and expanding on Martinson’s efforts. These studies had a similar hypothesis, speculating that there must be rehabilitation programs that could have a positive effect on prisoners. The ultimate conclusion of the majority of these continuing research studies is consistent with the thought that there are no generic programs that will work for all those incarcerated. Factors such as men and women prisoners, differences in the type of offenses, age at the time of incrassation, and a variety of other cultural issues are important elements to any expectation of success.

The value that Martinson provided to the field of study was an awareness of the critical issues in the area of prison treatment programs. Although he may have initially reached conclusions that could not be replicated or validated, many subsequent efforts in this area have provided insight into effective solutions that could reduce recidivism. Martinson did attempt to modify his original findings (Martinson 1979), but his initial published study was the stimulus for additional research and subsequently the stronger value of his work. It is not known what factors caused him to commit suicide in 1980, but his pioneering work in the field has allowed for a far greater understanding of effective prison reform.