Can Celebrities Help?

Part of my blog is to emphasize the fact that we focus too much on unnecessary news or information. For example we focus on gossip about Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, rather than what they are trying to do for our country. This is an invasion of privacy but also decreases our knowledge about the presidential election and the core facts we need to know. We also tend to focus on the size of Jennifer Aniston’s wedding ring rather than reading about the reactions people had on the debate from the night before. One thing that I have noticed however, is that celebrities have been posting their thoughts on the election. If people are so obsessed with what celebrities are doing, maybe they will read about their reactions to the debates. This may encourage people to go into deeper thought about more important issues. If the people they look up to are tweeting and blogging about the future of our country, these people will be more inclined to follow. The question is, how much is this effecting the general public?

Op-Ed

You do not hear much about prisoners these days. You do not hear about what goes on in prisons, how wardens and guards are dealing with what goes on inside them, or how ex convicts are handled. Many years ago I remember hearing about an outbreak in a prison in California. After that, there was much controversy over how prisons were run, and even though there are many issues that still remain, people rarely bring up prison in conversation. People are in prison for three reasons: to be punished for what they did, to keep them off the streets, and to be rehabilitated. Sure they are being punished and they are off the streets, but are they being rehabilitated?

“Usually, because there is a remand inmate that needs to be cycled into gen pop before trial and they need to free up your cell – so you go into solitary because there aren’t any other beds. I did two months of that all up. No books, no blankets, no light, 23 hour lockdown” (“2 Years In Prison – A Man’s Story.” 2 Years In Prison – A Man’s Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. <http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=136858&gt;.) This is a quote from a man who was only in prison for two years. He listed the ten worst things in prison: 1. The smell, 2. Being white, 3. Getting fat, 4. Solitary, 5. The drugs, 6. The economy, 7. Losing everyone you ever loved, 8. Loneliness, 9. Death, 10. Getting out. How do we expect people to be rehabilitated in prison under these conditions? I am not saying in any way that prisoners should be coddled because there is no doubt that they have to pay the price for the crime that they committed, but American prisons are so poorly run that we make it almost impossible for them to achieve rehabilitation for the prisoners.

There have been many documentaries and movies that portray prison life accurately, such as The Shawkshank Redemption. When one of the characters, Red, has an interview with the parole board, he had been in prison for most of his life. When asked if he had felt he had been rehabilitated, he responded with this, “Rehabilitated? Well, now, let me see. You know I don’t have any idea what that means…I know what you think it means, sonny. To me it’s just a politician’s word, so that young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and tie and have a job. What do you really wanna know? Am I sorry for what I did?” (The Shawshank Redemption. Castle Rock Entertainment, 2004.) Most inmates have no idea how to rehabilitate themselves. Rehabilitation means to restore health to someone. How are they supposed to learn from their mistakes and rehabilitate themselves if all they do is sit behind bars and stare at the wall or locked in solitary confinement? How are they supposed to become better people if all they see and do is fight? How are they supposed to learn from their guards when the guards are corrupt? How are they supposed to rejoin society without having the necessary self-confidence and skills? Often, people don’t want to talk about prison because it is a very sensitive subject. People want convicts to be punished, but no one seems to understand that they are being punished in the wrong way and that when released they are no longer able to contribute positively to society than they were before being incarcerated.

When a child is abused, they grow up scarred and they are more likely to abuse others. It is the same with prisoners, when they are treated poorly, they will treat others poorly. There are many programs that are advocating protecting prisoners and trying to improve prison life, but not many of them are being heard. The Prison Fellowship International lists ten ways to improve prison on their website. The most useful ones are: reducing idleness, classify the prisoners, improve sanitation, use volunteers, and train the staff. Prisoners need to be active so they can be healthier. We need to classify the prisoners so that we don’t have a high-risk inmate living with a low risk inmate. We need to improve sanitation so that there are fewer diseases. Prisoners should all volunteer within the prison and even outside the prison walls. If they are put to work, they are more productive. Productive human beings have a greater chance of forming positive relationships and developing skills. Training the staff is also crucial. The staff in prisons can be notoriously corrupt and they treat prisoners inhumanely. There is an absurd amount of inmate deaths because of beatings by staff. When inmates are beating another inmate, the staff often turns away and lets it happen. Prisons are not properly run or supplied because people choose to ignore it. No one wants to be the one to feel sympathy for criminals. People believe in justice and punishment for criminals is how they are getting justice.

Our current prison system is failing both the prisoners and society. If prisons were run with a clear mission, that is rehabilitation, they would be properly staffed and adequately funded. The more productive and involved the inmates are with this rehabilitation, the more likely they could someday rejoin society in a positive manner. By putting convicts in prisons like ours, we are only crippling them, and simply putting an expensive band-aid on one of society’s greatest flaws.