Should our prison system be about punishment or rehabilitation?

Hi jodilee, Thank you for commenting and I'm delighted with your response as these are my feelings exactly. Much more can be done to help these people who sometimes end up there because of a mistake that many others have made and never got caught. Sometimes too something is done in the heat of the moment and the person is sorry for it less than five minutes later. Blessings.

Hi jodylee, Thanks for commenting and I agree. Blessings.

Hi linamachina, Thank you for commenting and I agree the intent should be be to make them productive members of society again. After all what real purpose does punishment serve? There are those who cannot live in society without harming others and such people have to be kept somewhere where they can never harm another person. Other than that, we should never give up on finding ways to rehabilitate, it's the only way. Blessings.

Shajerri..true there are many who commit crimes with their full intent, full concience of what they are doing, and actually premeditating it. However, there are far more criminals that have done things without intent, either under the influence of Alcohol and having no control of their senses, being mentally challenged, etc. I don't think there are too many who wake up in the morning, and say, "Hey, I think I will commit a crime today, so I can be sent to prison". There are many sent there when they had no intent.

However, I do agree that those who are in their right mind, and had the intent on doing harm should be severerly punished, but not only for those who commited a violent crime, but for all those others who intended to break the law - Drug Dealers should be punished to the max, as they are just as bad as murderers. It may seem that they have not committed a violent act, however they are killing our kids by making drugs accessible in this world.

Hi shajerrl, Thank you for commenting and we are in complete agreement. Blessings.

Hi danishcanadian, Thank you for your comment. You and I were probably raised in a good home, unfortunately not all children born into this world has that opportunity. Fear has never worked and never well.Prisoners have to be treated humanely, this not a hundred years ago when many died in prison after committing a minor crime. As for our tax dollars, there would be far less spent if we rehabilitated first time offenders instead of keeping them in jail. Prison should be for dangerous offenders who are not ably to live in society without harming another. Blessings.

Hi bdugas, Thank you for sharing your thoughts. My thinking is if we look at first time offenders, we may be able to rehabilitate more than we have been and get them back into society. Blessings.

Yes maybe if when first sent to jail, they was immediately put into some program for rehab we could get through to them and they wouldn't want to come back, I just find it seems that some don't get it no matter how many times you try to help them. I have a grandson, and he is constantly being picked up for just little things, nothing major. He knows what he done to get in there but will come out and do the same thing again. I'm beginning to think he likes it in there.

Isn't the main reason for being put in prison to punish them for what they did? I can see if it a first offender that you talk with them and come to the conclusion that this was a major mistake on the persons actions and that they are truely sorry for what they did. Then try to rehabilatate them. But when you have a person that is into crime such as assult and drugs, and it is a repeated offense, I dont' think that we should waste money on trying to rehab them as this is the way they live their life and punishment is all you can give them.

Hi again bdugas, I know this may sound strange to you but I see no purpose in punishment. Prison should be for those who are dangerous offenders and not able to live in society without harming others. We should never give up on those who commit petty crimes, there has to be a way of getting to them. Young people especially can often be helped. Sometimes too people commit serious crimes in the heat of the moment and are sorry for it in less than five minutes. Special attention should be given to such people as opposed to those who plan and carry out a crime. I think that we would spend less money, instead of more and have a healthier society if we looked at things from this vanish point. Blessings.

Yep I also agree that some crimes are done in a moment of being mad over something and that they are sorry for it within 5 minutes. That doesn't help the person they killed or hurt does it. A person had to take responsibility for what he does, and then they have to take the punishment for that crime. I agree these are probably the ones that we could work with and make them decent citizens again to live in our community. A person that steals, and repeatly does this, he isn't going to stop, no matter what you do, why keep spending the money to convict him and go get the same answer, guilty.A person makes a mistake only once, after that it is no longer a mistake, it is done because they want to do it. Yes the jails are full of these types of people. You can spend thousands of dollars on these people giving them the knowledge that if they do it again, when as soon as they get out they looking to do it again. I think we can talk to these people and decide which is truly sorry for what he did. Who wants to change. So they made a mistake, everyone does, everyone entitled to another chance. But when you go right back out and do it again, it is no longer a mistake and I can't see wasting money on a person like that. How many mistakes do we give them, before we come to the fact that they aren't going to change. It is a nice thought that you can change the people by trying to rehabilate them, but fact is not many comes out and don't end up back. I would love to think that our prison system would make it to where some never wanted to see the inside again. But it is breed into some and there is no changing them.

Hi Mirita, I agree that rehabilitation will only work for some. We should probably be looking at first time offenders and those convicted of smaller crimes. Blessings.

Hi princess, Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and I agree it is a controversial subject. I'm sure there are those in prison that should never be let out but I feel that first time offenders should be given a chance before they become hardened criminals. Blessings.

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Hi again princess, I guess it depends on the drugs we are talking about here. Anyone trafficking in drugs that is going to ruin a person's life in a year or two is a dangerous criminal in my opinion. If he/she can't be rehabilitated, this may be someone who should be classed as a dangerous criminal and kept in prison for life. Punishment is pointless unless it helps in some way. Blessings.

Hi ladym, I feel that to be a very good response, thank you. There are certainly a great many who have been sent to prison who should not be there. They should instead be somewhere where they can be given a second chance before it's too late. There are no doubt those who are dangereous offenders and not capable of living in a free society without harming others. Blessings.

Hi prashantsarika, Thank you for your comment and I couldn't agree more. Blessings.

Talk to authorities at yervada jail may be they will listen to your advice and reward you for that. one more thing, tell those authorities to resign their jobs and join a call center. May be they will have to do find something worthwhile after the jail gets shut down.