Many believe that the prison system should be used to implement harsh punishment towards individuals who have failed to obey the law. I disagree with this statement because of the harm it causes to the prison inmates and because it results in reoffending. Instead, the latter view of rehabilitation should be implemented because it adds value to a prisoner’s life and prevents recidivism which benefits society.
Prison systems that adopt punitive measures to disciple prisoners in their care not only cause severe physical and psychological harm to these individuals, but also hinders any potential positive behavioral transformation. Prisoners develop a mistrust of the justice system and society and reaffirm their antisocial criminal behaviors. As a result, if they are released, they reoffend and are subsequently incarcerated again. For example, Mexico’s strict implementation of prison programs where inmates are physical and psychologically abused by prison officers and guards often result in high rates of violent crime and reoffending by a small but significant number of the inmate population.
On the other hand, I believe that criminal offenders and society would better benefit from a system that focuses on restorative justice, which utilizes rehabilitation through upskilling and helps reduce reoffending. By providing resources the resources and opportunities, prisoners learn technical and social skills that can benefit them and society when they finish serving their sentence. These set of skills will make them useful members of society and will give them purpose in their lives which helps prevent recidivism. For instance, the adoption of restorative justice by the Norwegian government has resulted in a sharp reduction of violent crimes and recidivism rates amongst its population.
In conclusion, punishment is not a viable and sustainable model as it harms offenders and results in high recidivism in society. I believe that it is better for prisons to shift their focus towards rehabilitating their prisoners through upskilling as it leads to reformed and productive individuals of society that are unlikely to reoffend.