In this past week of class we talked about the many issues facing America’s incarceration systems. By comparing it to other countries like Canada who we often compare to the Unites States we see that there is a problem with how many people we put in prison. One of the problem’s touched on was mental health and how prisons in the United States are used for punishment instead of rehabilitation. So a big question is why do we have so many more prisoners then other countries. The reason seems to be that the United States doesn’t do much for rehabilitation and that is reflected in the amount of repeat offenders.
This isn’t just a nice thought of maybe if we helped prisoners instead of punished them it would be better. Studies have shown that prison systems like those in Germany who treat prisoners with dignity and trust end up with a lower repeat offender rate. These prisons in Germany also focus on mental health for people on need making sure that evert individual’s needs are met for him/ her to succeed.
By providing inmates with dignity and responding to there needs, these people are able to turn there life around. Becoming better people by acknowledging there mental illness and giving them ways to work with it instead of coping through drugs and alcohol.
Connors Blog 