The prison environment and culture are vital to public safety and health. Whereas most of the policy discussion and general consideration of prisons attention on private facilities, nearly 83 percent of over 1600 United States facilities belong to and are run by states (Visher and Eason). This indicates that States are among the vital unit of investigation in discovering the far-reaching impacts of imprisonment and the spot for possible solutions. The key to the arguments to encourage prison reforms is a human freedom argument. Nonetheless, this argument is usually inadequate to promote reform programs and policies in countries, particularly in the United States, even if they have enough financial and human resources. Policy change in institutions has to start at the state level via the departments of corrections. For instance, California renamed its corrections division to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. For most people, such changes are not only name changes but move towards a difference in practice and policy. Thus, there is a need for prison reform due to public health outcomes of imprisonment, increased poverty, and detrimental social effect, and it is a human right deliberation.
To begin with, there is a need for prison reform due to the public health results of incarceration. Prison causes dire health consequences. Prisoners potentially have health issues when being taken to jail since they are primarily from socially deprived economic sectors and poorly educated the prevalent population, with less access to substantial health amenities and services. After joining prisons, their health situation worsens as many prisons in the country are congested with poor sanitation, poor nutrition and inadequate access to fresh air. The significant causes of death and morbidity in prisons include injuries, diarrhea, malnutrition, malaria, sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, HIV, and psychiatric illnesses. Similarly, in states with a high occurrence of tuberculosis in the general community, the availability of tuberculosis may be nearly 100 times greater in prisons (United Nations). While prisoners face significant risk, prison personnel are also susceptible to many illnesses which the inmates are at risk of. Hence, prisoners should be given better health care as they serve their time in those places. Applicable policies that look into decongesting prisons and increasing public healthcare and the well-being of inmates should be encouraged since it will save the prison itself and the community from health crises which could have been prevented or avoided.
Also, there is a need for prison reform to improve inmates’ life, reduce poverty and lessen jail term sessions. Imprisonment disproportionately impacts people and families languishing in poverty. When a salary-generating family member is taken to prison, the rest of the people in a family should adjust to such income loss. The effect can be notably worse in poor developing nations where the states fail to offer financial aid to the impoverished and where it is not common for an employed person to upkeep an extended network of the family financially. Therefore, the family suffers financial losses due to the incarceration of one of their members. When freed from prison, many prisoners often become subject to socio-economic exclusion since they have no prospects for jobs and hence become vulnerable to a continuous poverty cycle. A novel funding opportunity, therefore, is essential to begin transforming jails to improve life and assist prisoners. Changing Prisons Act is one of the policies which can help many states to allocate and utilize funds to uphold innovative practices and programs that would better prison circumstances for prisoners (Visher and Eason). Also, when one completes their term in prison, they will have gained enough experience to engage in any activity they have gained expertise in. This approach would then improve prisons into a fairer and more humane environment for prisoners and society.
In addition, prison reforms need to avoid its detrimental social effect. Imprisonment disturbs relationships and deteriorates social cohesion because the sustenance of such unity is based on long-term relations. When a family affiliate is jailed, the disturbance of family arrangement impacts associations between couples and between children and parents, reforming the community and family across many generations (United Nations). Conversely, serving a jail sentence deprives the fundamental right to freedom. It does not include the limitation of other individuals’ rights, except those which are limited by the very idea of being in prison. Reform is therefore essential to ensure that such guideline is honored, prisoners’ rights guarded, and their prospects for social re-integration heightened, in consent with pertinent global norms and standards. Similarly, this may include moving from incapacitation to rehabilitating prisoners. Hence, to help in this transformation, federal finances should be tied to rehabilitative tasks to change and enhance prisons.
In conclusion, prisons are part of the general community, and their environment and culture are crucial to public health and safety. Imprisoned persons have a challenge successfully adapting to their families and communities after being released since the setting in most prisons, especially in the United States, is not suitable for positive change. Thus, implementing the right prison reforms will help avoid detrimental social effects, lead to better healthcare results, reduce poverty and reduce mortality rates in prisoners. States, therefore, need to shift towards less dependence on imprisonment and more focus on community justice programs.
Work Cited
Visher, Christy and Eason, John. “A Better Path Forward for Criminal Justice: Changing Prisons to Help People Change.” Brookings.edu, 2021. https://www.brooking.edu/research/a-better-path-forward-for-criminal-justice-changing-prisons-to-help-people-chang/
United Nations. “Why Promote Prison Reform?” Unitednations.org, n.d. https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/justice-and-prison-reform/prison-reform-and-alternatives-to-imprisonment.html.
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