Do Prisons Work Essay

This field of canvas ordain examine the effectiveness of current prison ho using up manipulation designmes in Australia, New Zealand, southerly East Asia, United States of the States in rehabilitating or rejuvenateing an individual and coinciding recidivism localises upon a prisoners vent. prison house ground give-and-take platforms for call down offenders in Hesperian Australia, New South Wales and New Zealand atomic number 18 examined and recidivism rates comp bed. intercession programs for offenders with do do mediciness and alcohol issues and the several(a) strategies within the criminal justice agreement much(prenominal) as deflexion, statement and drug court programs are examined and differences explained.Rehabilitation programs such as pedagogics, vivification skills, employment and cognitive behavioral treatment are explained and search discussed. Conclusions will be drawn outlining programs with the highest level of recidivism both in Western Australia and globally. The aught works mantra (Martinson) 1974, is seen to be refuted and treatment is seen to be successful when it is matched to the criminogenic assumes of the offender (MacKenzie, 2006).Future recommendations are made in regards to the need for correctional cater to assess each offender as an individual with different needs, and to hence implement programs that will give the offender the best change of reform or renewal (MacKenzie, 2006). There are many an(prenominal) treatment and refilling programs currently utilize in corrections around the world aimed at reducing recidivism (MacKenzie, 2006). A heuristic approach classifies various strategies into immurement, treatment programs and replenishment (McKenzie, 2006).These interventions re lay out different strategies for imageling crime in the community, and halt whatsoever theoretical rationale for expecting a reduction in crime, despite existence different in the mechanism anticipated to produce the reduction (MacKenzie, 2006). captivity deprives the prisoner of opportunities to commit crime, usually through detention in prison or in some(prenominal) states capital punishment (McKenzie, 2006). Rehabilitation is establish on the premise that people can change, and if judgment is to contribute to reformation it must be cap satisfactory of criterion change (MacKenzie, 2006).The Static 99 jeopardize assessment measure is an International Tool that is currently used to assess recidivism levels of conjure up offenders (Hoy & Bright, 2008). Rehabilitation orientated treatment programs include education, cognitive skills and employment (MacKenzie, 2006). Correctional educational programs are seen to have optimistic results in lowering levels of recidivism in prisoners (Stevens & Ward, 2007). Kaki Bukit Prison School based in Singapore is seen to be successful in reducing recidivism by aiming to fanciful a learning environment based on Peter Senges book The Fifth Discipline (Senge, 1990).Part of the discipline involves inmates engaging in the The Reflective Thinking Process (Oh, 2007), an education programme which aims to assist prisoners in reflecting on past destructive behaviour and to encourage appropriate restitution. The drill is back up by a multidisciplinary team of teachers, prison officers and counsellors who work in concert to help students in their studies and in their journey of change to become responsible, displaceiment citizens (Tam, 2007). For inmates who realized their studies at Kubit Bukit nerve centre and were released in 2000 and 2001, the 2 year recidivism rate was 24% (Oh, 2007).Acacia, Western Australias still private run prison, is operated by Serco and aims to bring service to action (Needham, 2009). Storybook pas is an example of this and aims to rehabilitate prisoners, break the cycle of repique and close the gap between a child and his father (Needham, 2009). The program opens up a broad range of educational oppo rtunities ranging from writing their get stories to learning how to use a computer (Needham, 2009). The main objective of the program is to empower fathers and for children to feel loved, which then improves the lives of the prisoners children (Needham, 2009).Prisoners are given over the opportunity to record their childs favourite bedtime story on a CD with sound effects, personal message and CD put over (Needham, 2009). Current query indicates that fathers who have been imprisoned tend to withdraw from life outside the prison and subsequently lose contact completely with their children (Needham, 2009). Statistics project that six out of ten children whose father is a current or ex- prisoner become involved in criminal activities and whence get under ones skin themselves in similar blank spaces to their fathers in prison (Needham, 2009).The Storybook Dads program runs in eighty prisons in the United terra firma and maintains family connections and reduces reoffending (Need ham, 2009). The National incurhood Initiative runs a similar programme called the Incarcerated Fathers architectural plan which operates at Branchville Correctional Centre in inch (Gosnell, 2006). It is similar to Storybook Dads programme in helping prisoners get together with their children and families (Gosnell, 2006).One study monitored 186 men for three long time after release from prison with only five returning (Gosnell, 2006). Three men returned for clarified offences whilst two came back on a long term understate indicating low levels of recidivism, when in comparison seventy percent of men released from prison normally return within an average of one to three years (Gosnell, 2006). Prison based treatment programs offered in Western Australia for sex offenders are the Sex Offender Program, Indigenous Sex Offender and Intellectually change Offender (Macgregor, 2008).Community based maintenance programs are offered for each fictitious character of offender, the curren t program for disabled people being the Safe heraldic bearing Program (Macgregor, 2008). In Australia, nearly treatment programs for sex offenders are based on cognitive behavioural therapy aimed to target the criminogenic needs or chance factors of offenders (Macgregor, 2008). If these needs are altered the chances of changing the criminal behaviour are higher in the range of 10-30% (Blud, 1999). The programs are seen to be effective in that they work to alter many of the cognitive deficits displayed by offenders (Blud, 1999).They target the cognise risk factors for knowledgeable reoffending which are cognitive distortions, empathy deficits and wide ranging self edict (Hoy & Bright, 2008). A Western Australia study in 2002 measured recidivism rates of 2165 sex offenders referred to the treatment unit from 1987 to 1999 (Greenberg, 2002). The study compared enured offenders with non-treated offenders, with no significant findings on effects of treatment on sexual recidivism (G reenberg, 2002). imperious differences between the non-treated and treated sort out in the Western Australian study, such as original status, risk category, and length of sentence may have impaired comparisons of groups (Lievore, 2004). Inconsistencies crosswise the data, methodological limits may have confine the study from being able to identify less significant treatment outcomes, and to identify sources (Greenberg, 2002). At present a prison based treatment program designed for enceinte sex offenders is offered in every Territory and State Australia, despite many having yet to be evaluated (Macgregor, 2008).An evaluation conducted in New South Wales on the Custody Based Intensive Treatment program for high risk offenders (Hoy & Bright, 2008) compared recidivism rates of 117 treated offenders with those predicted by the STATIC 99 risk assessment measure, an internationally used tool that assesses the recidivism risk of sex offenders (Hoy & Bright, 2008). STATIC 99 risk probab ilities are based on a large exemplification of sex offenders in the United Kingdom and Canada (Hanson & Thornton, 2000). The study ground that 8. 5% of sex offenders treated at the Custody Based Intensive Treatment programs committed further sexual offences in 3. 5 years, compared with a predicted sexual recidivism of 26% (Hoy & Bright, 2008).An evaluation was conducted on the Te Piriti Special Treatment Program for child sex offenders in New Zealand (Nathan, Wilson & Hillman, 2003). Te Piriti incorporates cognitive behavioural therapy methods in combination with Tikanga Maori, holistic practices derived from world view and a appetite to understand the universe (Nathan, 2008). This study compared recidivism rates of Te Piriti graduates with a control group used in the Kia Marama study (Nathan, 2008). In comparison with the non-treated groups sexual recidivism rate of 21%, a small 5. 7% of offenders who completed the programme at Te Piriti reoffended sexually (Nathan, 2008).Maori sexual offenders were overly found to have a positive response to the program (Nathan, 2008). exclusively 4. 41% of Maori offenders reoffended sexually after receiving treatment at Te Piriti (Nathan) 2003 compared with 13. 58% of Maori Kia Marama graduates (New Zealand Corrections, 2003). These results are supportive of the argument that programs are to a greater extent effective in reducing sexual recidivism when the design and implementation are attuned to the pagan background of the offenders (Macgregor, 2008).Currently, there are various strategies within the criminal justice system that respond to offenders with drug and alcohol issues (Makkai & Payne, 2003). At one end of the spectrum is the diversion by police of first offenders or low level offenders into education or treatment programs (Makkai & Payne, 2003). At the other end, is the diversion of repeat drug dependent offenders facing imprisonment into intensive drug court programs (Makkai & Payne, 2003). drug courts a im to divert both men and women offenders (Freeman, Karski & Doak, 2000).The elements of the New South Wales drug court program are treatment social support and the ontogeny of living skills regular reports to the court and regular urine testing (Freeman et al. , 2000). During the cardinal month program, role players are expected to stabilise their lives by non exploitation drugs to address health issues, and to cease criminal activity (Freeman et al. ,). Ideally, they consolidate their situation and develop life and job skills, and financially reintegrate fully, becoming financially independent (Freeman et al. ,).Analysis of the data indicates a high success rate, with only thirteen percent of the participants having committed an offence on completion of the program, indicating a low level of recidivism (Freeman et al. ,). A promising approach to combating illicit drug use has been implemented at the Metropolitan Womens Correctional Centre in Victoria (Peachy, 1999). Carniche program includes core courses in drug awareness, drug education and Alcoholics unnamed, which fork overs a group therapy environment and a twelve look program based on abstinence and group support (Peachy, 1999).The program runs for three to four months, after which the prisoners are reintegrated into the mainstream prison population (Peachy, 1999). The program involves a maximum of ten prisoners who live in a residential unit separate from the main prison population who participate in intensive drug group and individual counselling (Peachy, 2000). The program has not been evaluated for its effect on offender recidivism and its success may depend on the support available to prisoners upon release (Peachy, 2000).A new program for women offenders, coroneted Reconnections, completed its pilot phase at Bandyup Womens prison in September 2009 (Porter, 2009). The program was based on therapeutic interventions to assist women in looking at past trauma and abuse in addressing their offe nding behaviour (Porter, 2009). Although the program was scheduled to commence in early 2010, backup problems prevented the commencement of the program (Porter, 2009). Despite the program failing to commence prison doors at Bandyup continue to open to volunteers and visitors, a move imprisoned women care for (Department of Corrective Services, 2005).The Western Australian Department of Justice allows over 3,000 volunteers who provide support for victims of crime, prisoners and juvenile detainees (Department of Corrective Services, 2005). Western Australias drug rehabilitation is seen to be a part of the whole sentencing process both in prison and the community for a prisoners release on parole (Cox, 2007). There is a continuum drug users who go through the Perth do drugs Courts treatment programs are less likely to reoffend than those sent to prison (Cox, 2007).Recidivism rates for offenders using the courts drug treatment programs were 17 percent lower than those for offenders se nt to prison (Cox, 2007). The study assessed 250 drug users, dealt with the Drug Court who were charged with offences such as burglary, theft or fraud between 2000 and 2003 (Cox, 2007). In comparison to Western Australia one in every 100 adults is locked up in America and there penal corrections system do not follow a Western approach, incorporating resources such as Drug Courts to help prevent re-offending (McClatchy, 2008).Kansas has been seen to rethink incarceration policies, with a focus on reserving prison for the worst criminals who pose a real danger to society (McClatchy, 2008). Kansas only drug court, in Lyon County, has thinned offender rearrest rates almost by half. (McClatchy, 2008). In California, a study found that in a two-year period, drug courts cost $14 million but saved tax-payers more than $43 million over the costs of sending offenders to prison (McCatchy,2008).Kansas Department of Corrections has had success with a new parole re-entry program, including a pi lot project in Wichita that gives parolees more support and helps them to keep on the straight and narrow (McClatchy, 2008). Corrections depositary Roger Werholtz has seen the new philosophy dramatically cut re-offender rates state-wide and reduced recidivism (McCatchy, 2008). Spectrum dependency Services offers residential treatment, outpatient, detox and domestic violence service for centerfield abusers and Correctional Recovery Academies in Massachusetts, Georgia and Rhode Island (Astell, 1995).The treatment strategy supported by Spectrum is based on behaviour and based on self-esteem, participants feelings, and self-revelation much as the 12 step program of Alcoholics Anonymous (Astell, 1995). Spectrum views the way to fight recidivism is behavioural, teaching people the skills to stay straight (Astell, 1995). A situational approach to drug abuse may be another roadway to explore when examining the Vietnam War (Astell, 1995). Many American soldiers who were involved with her oin use in South East Asia did not bring the habit home, indicating that some drug abuse is situational (Astell, 1995).In the mid 1970s a bearish assessment of rehabilitation programs by Robert Martinson asserted that nothing works in correctional treatment (Cullen & Gendreau, 2000). However recent reassessment using methods of meta-analysis has found that offender treatment programs do reduce problem behaviour (Cullen & Gendreau, 2000). rough-and-ready programs are those which recognise the importance of individual differences and the measurement of these factors when assessing what programs and interventions would be most suitable for each offender (Harland, 1996).Privatisation of prisons is seen to be a positive antecedent to improving treatment programs and reducing associated recidivism in developing more of a restorative framework to treatment programs (Corporate Responsibility, 2007). This involves emphasising the importance of good relationships between prisoners and staf f, the need to recognise the impact of cultural differences when implementing programmes and matching an officer of suitable gardening and temperament to best assist the needs of the prisoner (Corporate Responsibility, 2007).Further study is indicated as being required for WA Sex Offenders with little research being available for this group of offenders when compared to other states in WA (Cullen & Gendreau, 2000). Systematic differences between the non-treated and treated group in the Western Australian study, such as indigenous status, risk category, and length of sentence may have impaired comparisons of groups (Lievore, 2004). Inconsistencies across the data, methodological limits may have also limited the study from being able to identify less significant treatment outcomes, and to identify sources (Greenberg , 2002).A recommendation for improved research design is suggested in the implementation of a similar tool as the Static 99 in Australia which is currently only available internationally in measuring sexual recidivism (Mackenzie, 2006). Another finding from reviews of the studies is the large difference of amount of research completed for drug-offenders in comparison with other offenders, such as women prisoners and sex offenders which is currently limited (MacKenzie, 2006).Given the current concern about the increase amount of drug offenders entering the correction system it is apparent as to why there is uch a large number of evaluations of programs being completed for these offenders (MacKenzie, 2006). Although the role for corrections appears to be a current challenge, it is hoped that with further research, backup , availability of treatment programmes and education of prison officers in addressing individual and cultural differences, that the offender be given the greatest chance for rehabilitation, reform and consequently a life of freedom outside the prison bars (MacKenzie, 2006).