Resocialization of Prisons - Essay Example

Resocialization of Prisons Abstract: The present paper aims to discuss the role of prisons in the resocialization of the people kept in the incarcerated after their turned out to be guilty of committing some offence and the announcement of sentence against them from the court of law. The study will be conducted in the light of Conflict, Structural functional and Interactionsit perspectives in order to define and determine the role played by prisons in the rehabilitation of the offenders. The Paper: It is a fact beyond suspicion that every social establishment of the world has introduced law and judicial systems in order to maintain order within its jurisdiction. As a result, the individuals found guilty of committing crimes are arrested, tried at the court of law and if found guilty, the criminals are restrained in the prison houses in order to punish and penalize the offenders on the one side, and protect the society by discouraging the criminal acts on the other (Siegel, 2008:471). The prisons are regarded to be reformative centers, which serve as the platform responsible for the education, training and resocialization of the prisoners, so that they could lead a normal life like other law-abiding citizens of society (Macionis, 2008:138). The prison administrations have introduced several rehabilitation programs for the moral uplift of the prisoners, where the education and training sessions are conducted within the prison houses on regular basis, so that the criminals could give up deviant behavior and offences after getting released from the prison. Somehow, the critics have always demonstrated serious reservations about the miserable plight of the prisoners, where a large majority of the former offenders tends to commit the similar or even different crimes in the wake of their setting free from the jails. Hence, the environment of jails is declared to be responsible for turning the individuals into habitual offenders because of their stay with criminals. Theorists, psychologists and researchers have articulated different reasons behind the prisons’ being unable to play the active and powerful role of the reform house for prisoners. The sociological conflict perspective views state of clash and struggle between haves and haves-not in all societies and cultures of the world (Turner, 1978:160). Being the essential part of society, the same conflict could also be found in prisons, where the strong, powerful and affluent prisoners treat the weak, feeble and poor prisoners to be their slaves. The haves not only force the haves-not to remain at their service, but also increase the intensity of criminal aptitude among them. Sexual exploitation serves as the most heinous crime practiced within the prisons, where the weak prisoners are assaulted, tortured and raped by the influential prisoners as well as the members of prison administration. Such a state of affair multiplies the sense of crime among the prisoners, which intend to carry on committing crimes after their release from prison in order to take revenge of cruelties inflicted upon them by the powerful stratum of society in jails. Somehow, it is not the case in every prison, as some of the prisons strictly discourage the exploitation of the weak at the hands of the powerful, though records endorse the exercising of excessive injustices and crimes on the weak prisoners in jails (Pritikin, 2009:1074-5). On the other hand, functionalist attribute the society as a structure, where functioning of its different organs decides the future of the entire structure (Turner, 1978:11-2). Since prison is also an essential part of society, activities of its members, including administration and prisoners, is vital for the proper functioning of the system. Somehow, nature of the relationship between the prisons personnel and criminals is of master and slave, which keeps both the parties in conflict with one another. The prisons officers introduce sessions and impose restrictions of various types on the prisoners, which are aptly attempted to be turned down on the part of the prisoners. Consequently, the jail administration deprives the prisoners of some facilities with the aim of keeping them under their control. Such a situation is rejected by the prisoners, which develop the feelings of hatred and malice for the personnel, and are determined to take revenge from them, weak prisoners and society as well after their imprisonment duration is over. Hence, the conflict is evident between the prisoners and jail management, which contains bleak chances of any resocialization of the criminals during their remaining incarcerated in prisons (Pritikin, 2009:1050). While elaborating the interactionist theory, the perspective maintains that man’s interaction with his social and physical environment determines his action, reaction and individual and collective behavior at large. The same is equally applied to the prisoners, where their interaction with accidental and responsible prisoners as well as dutiful staff members of prison turns out to be supportive one in their resocialization and reformation, which helps them to become law-abiding members of society after their release from prisons. On the contrary, their developing relationships with habitual criminals and jail birds tends to develop the same nature and habit in them, where they would feel pride and satisfaction on committing crimes and becoming the part of jail life on permanent basis subsequently (Hagan, 2010:130). In other terms, becoming habitual criminal as well as evading the same depends upon the prisoner on the one side, and the prisons environment on the other. To conclude, it becomes crystal clear that the prisons play important role in the resocialization of the criminals by implementing reformation programs and refresher courses on ethics, morality and observing the statutes of law. Somehow, the prisons environment, containing the offenders of all types, seldom allows the prisoners to imitate the reformative programs altogether. As a result, the prisons appear to be unable to add their share in the resocialization of the criminals. Hence, the structural functional, conflict and interactionist theorists appear to be justified in taking stances that prisons could not be relied to be the place effective enough for controlling crimes and resocializing the criminals during their stay in the prisons (Hagan, 2010: 136). References Hagan, Frank E. (2010). Introduction to Criminology: Theories, Methods, and Criminal Behavior Seventh Edition. New York: Sage Publications. Macionis, John J. (2008). Sociology Eleventh Edition New York: Pearson Prentice Hall Inc. Pritikin, Martin H. (2009). Is Prison Increasing Crime? Retrieved from http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/lawreview/issues/2008_6/1_-_pritikin.pdf Siegel, Larry. (2008). Criminology. New York: Cengage Learning Turner, Jonathan F. (1978). The Structure of Sociological Theory. Ontario: The Dorsey Press. Read More