Do Prisons Rehabilitate? Essay -- essays research papers

Do prisons Rehabilitate?In this essay, I shall be focusing on the whether or Prisons rehabilitate offenders. I forgetdo this by focusing mainly on the Prison run in England & Wales, the reason forthis, being that the data and statistics for England & Wales are easier to obtain thanthat of some other countries. The main information I will be referring to will be the rates ofconviction, types of imprison housement, types of non-custodial sentences. Also I willexplore some of the modern methods of offender rehabilitation.Her Majestys Prison Service is com begetd of cardinal main types of prisons, they are laxand closed prisons. Following the Mountbatten Report (1965) Prisoners were fixedinto security categories, ranging from category A (high risk prisoner - escape wouldpose a serious risk to the public or state) to category D (low risk prisoner - can betrusted in open prison conditions).Prisons have four major purposes, they are retribution, incapacitation, deterrence andrehabi litation. avenging mode punishment for crimes against society. Prisons serveto deprive criminals of their freedom is a counselling of making them pay a debt to society fortheir crimes. Incapacitation refers to the removal of criminals from society so that theycan no longer harm innocent people. Deterrence means the prevention of future crime,it is hoped that bye imprisoning a criminal, it deters them from committing the crimeagain and alike deters others from committing crime. Rehabilitation refers to activitiesdesigned to change criminals into law abiding citizens, and may accept providingeducational courses in prison, teaching job skills and offering counselling with apsychologist or social worker. Over many a(prenominal) years the focus of the prison service hasswitched between the four purposes, therefore at different clock in history theimportance of rehabilitation has fluctuated.Her Majestys Prison Service serves the public by keeping in bondage those pull by the court s. Our duty is to look after them with humanity and help them drive law-abiding and useful lives in custody and after release.http//www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/lrgtxt.aspThe above relation of purpose is that of Her Majestys Prison Service. As can beseen from the statement, there seems to be a focus on incapacitation and rehabilitation.Over many years, peoples attitude towards how to deal with pr... ...are oftensentenced when nothing else has worked and in effect the system has given up. Theprison service has no guard over the prisoners that they take in, and therefore as theoffenders stay in custody is forced rehabilitation will not be effective unless theoffender wants to be rehabilitated.REFERENCESInternet SitesAll of the below listed sites were last accessed on 10/12/2002http//www.dfes.gov.uk/prisonerlearning/init_p.cfm?ID=13http//www.dfes.gov.uk/prisonerlearning/init_p.cfm?ID=17http//www.guardian.co.uk/prisons/story/0,7369,747482,00.hypertext markup languagehttp//www.hmprisons ervice.gov.uk/lrgtxt.asphttp//www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/news/newstext.asp?272http//www.homeoffice.gov.uk/prishist.htmhttp//society.guardian.co.uk/mentalhealth/story/0,8150,682850,00.htmlhttp//www.learn.co.uk/yvote/debates/crimeprisonpro.htmhttp//www.socialexclusionunit.gov.uk/publications/reports/html/Reducing_Re-offending/chapter_one.htmhttp//www.socialexclusionunit.gov.uk/publications/reports/html/Reducing_Re-offending/chapter_two.htmhttp//www.socialexclusionunit.gov.uk/publications/reports/html/Reducing_Re-offending/chapter_five.htmhttp//www.stoptheaca.org/purpose.html