Why our Prison systems are broken and doing more harm than good
Investigating the faults of our prison system and introducing the Finnish prison system.
Prisons are notorious for being cruel and punishing, justified by the people contained inside of them, ranging from their criminal activity and cruel past. The philosophy goes that since Criminals have broken the law they should not be trusted with rights, and therefore be stripped of their freedom for the security or the well-being of the nation. The uninhabitable nature of prison, was developed as a deterrent to crime, as to make criminals think twice before they commit anything offensive, yet crime is only on the rise with reoffending rates creeping up, so are our harsh prisons truely working??
Will being harsh and treating inmates like animals be the solution?? How will this affect prisoners when they are re-integrated back into society?? These are the dominant questions that Finland questioned themselves during the 20th century, during suffering through economic depression and high re-offending rates. Instead of doubling down on the number of prisons there are or employing more police, they tried and attempted something rather risky but genius, which we now understand as creating a dynamic and home-like environment which I would explain further, but is the force that derived Finland as the worlds happiest place, with the lowest reoffending rates and having one of the lowest jailed populations per capita.
The Finnish success in creating peace in a place of despair was a simple philosophy that they soon applied to every aspect of life, to not dwell on the past and focus on the future. This sentence revolutionized Finnish prisons, recognizing that torturing inmates, will not benefit society any better when they inmates are than released, as they are the products of their environment as psychologist say. If we grow up as a businessmen we have a number fixed mindset while living in a prison (that is cruel and harsh) promotes bad behaviour that is fixated as a mechnansiim to survive that we bring into the world.
As in an episode of extreme prisons, an officer explains that “prison is the punishment,” and adding more cruel behaviour is just not necessary but also not humane. As John Stuart mill the father of utilitarianism famously said, detainment annihilates your freedom, autonomy, and self-determination, destroying your capacity to go where you need to pursue what you wish to do. Essentially stripping you of essential 21st-century human credits. If you lack lawful rights there isn’t anything you can do when another person denies you of your freedom. You become their slave. Everything that makes us truly human comes from the idea of freedom. Freedom according to John Stuart Mill is the greatest level of happiness for all and for everyone living on earth. As freedom gives you the autonomy to proceed with your purpose, gives you the opportunity to pursue your own interest, not to live for someone else, but to live for yourself. Adding anything ontop of that makes our prisons criminals.
Prison makes you a slave to society, stuck within a network of cruel rules reflected upon people's cruelty behaviours, however with temporary “slaves” you want to be successful, why treat them bad, similarly like how you never treat a customer poorly in hopes, he will come back.
The latter choice of treating slaves in such a compassionate fashion is exactly what the Finnish philosophy is all about, understanding that prison is exactly the punishment stripping you away the access or the real ability to see your kids grow up, miss hanging out with your friends and going to amusement parks or attractions. But as they learn to punish someone further than what they are sentenced to (a jail sentence), is harmful and does no good, such as beating and treating a human with a lack of respect. Does no good for when the criminal is released, so why torture someone who is already torturing, why not rehabilitate them, why not make them a better person?
The ability to adapt to learn and copy the responses or attitude in this case of cruel and horror proven by both the bo-bo doll experiment and the notion of the social learning theory. Stems from the rough play or power struggles between both the prisoners and the guards. That behaviour may be demonstrated in that of a prison cell, however, the environment around you normalises such pretentious and dangerous actions as acceptable, due to it being forced upon you by what you would call law enforcements (prison guards). Taking this behaviour and applying it to everyday life, acting on the edge and prone to violence, constantly acting as if you are in prison. This is why countries are constantly fighting against re-offenders and why people that were wrongfully convicted who went to jail, are increasingly likely to commit crimes or go to measures they typically will not have gone. Because modern prison messes up our mental health instead of reforming it to create better humans.
You are bringing that behaviour back into society when released, creating a mini world in prison and drawing a sense of normality between both the guards and prisoners. Is not only for the benefit of the inmate but for society as a whole.
Benefits to society
The average population in jail, haven’t even committed such serious offences, only committing small cases of burglary or arrested for their irresponsibility (such as public intoxication, or resisting arrest). But if the average population which are composed of maybe desperate or stubborn inmates, with no history of attacking another member of society, how are they meant to fit in jail being good and loving, when the jail is designed as a jungle being the survival of the fittest, this is why many people when out of jail, say that prison messes you up.
Prison messes you up by forcing you to change for the worse in order for the prison system to run smoothly and orderly, destroying your sense of normality and moral compass. So when you have almost ordinary people like you and me in jail, they come out worse, how is this any good. The fact that prison is built for the worst and to control the worse, not to rehabilitate the worse but most importantly not to accommodate the large population of non-violent convicted people in jail, is a big concern as in the Stanford prison experiment we see first hand even though it was an experiment (conducted by students acting out as roles of guards or prisoners), there was large psychological abuse leaving many students at the end so scared with the experiment ending at the 6 day mark out of 14 days, which simply shows the abuse these students were facing.
Researchers expect as an increasing wave of violence soon to occur is not just a fun endeavour for scientists and mathematical geniuses. The problem at hand just shows the responsibility we need to increasingly show, by reaching out to the population, and lending a hand. As one’s awful upbringing, a crisis forcing people into carrying out these harmful deeds does not mean that their mentality and awful upbringing cannot be reversed. Most people don’t realise but emotional intelligence and IQ is not entirely stationary, it is indeed mobile, fluctuating from your experience and learning in life. So it is not an excuse to say that prisoners cannot change, because humankind is all about change and adapting to new ideals and normalities.
Simply put it is not right to throw people in prison, terrorise their livelyhood without thinking of true reform as what happens when they are out of prison? As traditional prisons damage more than they do reform as we allow ruthlessness to be accepted as displayed by the guards which can be at times perceived as encouraging violence, treating prisoners with constant disrespect justified through negative stereotypes, which we build and mold through shaming them in numerous fashions, losing their sense of civilization (just like how a little child constantly bullied would grow up differently than what is considered normal).
If humanity is defined as fighting for each other, inclusivity and standing up for what’s right, then why is it that someone else’s problem is not ours? Why is it that if you are a prisoner you don’t have the capability or opportunity to rehabilitate properly with support? As the final products of our emotions, personalities and behaviour all come from society or your mini-society through the idea of looking up to those around you and copying the trend (the trend can be ideas such as being a constant bully or treating everyone with equal respect), the trend or societies ideals are all different in every location you live in but it is key to understand that prisoners are prisoners not just because they were born in such a fashion but because they learnt from society, they were given lessons and lectures that many other people haven’t, simply because they live in a different society to us and in that society sometimes surviving means living life in a certain discipline.
About the author:
Eldon Tse — Hong Kong 🇭🇰 | Instagram
Always open to listening to new opinion and groundbreaking ideas, to reach me please feel free to contact me through Instagram.