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Humane Prisons: A Call for Decency in Conservative Times

NCJ Number
166495
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 58 Issue: 4 Dated: (July 1996) Pages: 130-132
Author(s)
R Johnson
Date Published
1996
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Sending offenders to decent prisons is not only the humane thing to do, it is the effective thing to do, because it can promote rehabilitation.
Abstract
Decent prisons should be suitable for human habitation and responsive to basic human needs. They do not, however, offer inmates the right to an easy or comfortable time behind bars. Inmates must serve "hard time," but hard time also can be constructive time. The most valuable lessons inmates can learn are those that enable them to cope maturely with the pains of imprisonment. A decent prison should have a bare-bones, spartan quality to it. The regime should be short on amenities but long on autonomy; a spartan regime need not entail the elimination of choice. Persons have the moral right to make choices that influence their lives and the moral obligation to bear responsibility for the consequences of these choices. The hallmark of personhood is self-determination, which brings with it the potential for personal growth and self-actualization. Self-determination requires that a person deal directly with problems, which is the first element of mature coping. No just punishment, and hence no decent prison, can take away the inmate's capacity for self-determination. Inmates should be free to make choices within the prison world that have meaningful implications for the quality and character of the lives they will lead behind bars and upon release. 14 references

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