Prison as a Correctional System
The main purpose of this paper is to find out, using public opinion, what conditions a prison as a correctional system should provide to prisoners to achieve its basic goal, which is to make criminals obey the law. The survey includes questions regarding violation of the prisoner rights and possible additional amenities.
Above all things, all the interviewees were passed about the prisoners rights. One interviewee, a friend of mine, told me about so called “commercial prisons”, where the prisoners are exploited as slaves. This is unprecedented case of the human rights violation. The criminals are human beings, not resources, even if they offended against the law. Such prisons are widespread in the USA (California, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, etc.), so the government should pay careful attention to this problem.
As to additional amenities, the interviewees, my relatives, based on the principal of cleanup and what is most useful for the community. Every criminal, especially first-time convict, needs countenance in order not to be broken. Their souls need to be renovated. Frequenters can hardly give a relevant help. That is why convicts need a direct connection with the outside community: relatives, friends and surely specialists like psychologist, priest etc. The prisons could provide the Internet connection with some filters mounted so that a prisoner could communicate with allowed people, visit educational websites, which could be useful for him/her, and not to be out-of-touch. This will simplify their adaptation after enduring the punishment. Some interviewees say that prisoners could be allowed to wear the clothes they want, so that they could support their individuality. Some prison administrations prohibit smoking, but it can be harmful for the health of heavy-smokers, for instance their tension drops from smoking. That problem could be solved by making special places for smoking. That will also prevent illegal dispatch of tobacco.
Taking in consideration the above public opinion, I have found out more information about the penitential system and its problems. The system must be corrected to be able to correct prisoners. The most important thing that disturbs the society is moralities policy of the prisons. People want to see renovated ex-prisoners to make the society healthier as far as possible.
