Today’s correctional facilities can be seen as being run for the most part, by the prisoners themselves. Historically, correctional institutions have gone through various forms of punishment and rehabilitation and through different lawsuits and other protests we have reformed the so-called ‘punishment’ system we currently see today in an effort for more humane treatment. However, today’s prison populations are at the highest we’ve ever seen and with less punishment than ever. The correctional institutions could become once again a place where no one wants to be if we reinstated the Auburn System, which had strict regulation and regimentation on a daily basis.
The issue today is that the prisoners run today’s prisons. Gangs, regardless of race, all have an equal share of how the prison is run. Wardens and Correctional Officers have let the correctional system become this in an effort to maintain peace within the walls, instead of punishing those who violate and commit crimes in society.
The solution could simply be bringing back one of the first punishment systems; The Auburn System. The Auburn System was an excellent penal method as it deterred people from committing crimes, while also deterring released prisoners from committing again. Today’s society is too lenient with the prison system. The costs are astronomical for what we spend on someone who has committed crimes in society, and prisoners have better health benefits and eat better than some of the population in this country. Because of the ‘benefits’ as some see it, of being in prison, there is a likely high recidivism rate because they are aware of the consequences and often at times prefer it.
The Auburn System was not harsh or inhumane. It’s how prisons should operate today. Prisoners should not have rights or the opportunity to live a comfortable life in prison with television, sometimes telephones, books, other ways to pass time. Recreating an atmosphere where inmates are kept in solitary confinement to reflect on their criminal acts, completely silence is enforced at all times; during work, in the dining hall and while marching is something that we should go back to doing. Forcing inmates to move in the “lockstep shuffle,” regardless of their race gives inmates no control over the guards or the system. If inmates get out of line, there is no reason they should not be punished severely with a whip or other flogging methods. Prisoners should and need to be punished.
While some can argue that such strict regiment is unconstitutional and violates their rights, prisoners should not have rights. They have broken the laws of society and therefore need to be punished. There are no cons with The Auburn System, only positives.
The positives of such severe and harsh punishment, while it could allow some inmates to go crazy from the complete silence; it is a viable form of punishment. Creating an environment with these conditions would break their desire to reoffend, in turn lowering prison population, saving millions of dollars in funding which in turn can be put into the education system like it should be and overall lower crime rate, based on the fear of the punishment to come.
The Auburn System, if brought back into the correction institution, could alleviate many of the problems the system is currently facing. It would put control back into the prison staff’s hands, while lowering the recidivism rate of offenders and also making those who have no yet committed a crime, think twice before doing so. Strict regulation and regimentation of the prisoners would create an atmosphere that no one wants to be in for any period of time. Prisoners, while locked behind the high walls, still have it far too easy and sometimes easier than the honest hard working people on the outside, which is one of the primary reasons why the justice system needs a major overhaul in the form of punishment such as The Auburn System.
References
Garland, D. (1993). Punishment and Modern Society. Unv. Chicago Press.
Chicago.Wines H (2009). Punishment and Reformation. General Books, LLC. New York.
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