My paper will focus on the availability of rehabilitation services offered to convicts both inside and outside of jail to help them re-enter society as best they can. I will look into this and how these programs affect the overall number of convicts that remain in the prison system after serving their sentences. With this in mind, hopefully it will be fitting to ask the question: what does failure to offer these services show about those running our prison system? If this issue was a ballroom, the amount of people in that space that debate this topic would be ridiculously high, as this issue is a key topic in the realm of prison reform. But for my essay, I will focus on the pieces of 5 scholars. With their two groundbreaking books on the prison system, Just Mercy and New Jim Crow, Bryan Stevenson and Michelle Alexander will serve as a strong foundation for this argument. Although they disagree on some things about the nation’s current criminal justice system, both make it clear that they think the system is systematically racist, and doesn’t truly care about the equal treatment of prisoners, especially minority prisoners. Where their arguments differ is that Stevenson still trusts that the system will work once we, as a country address and fix the apparent racism and unequal treatment within it. Alexander, on the other hand, seems to have completely lost faith in the system. In response to Michelle Alexander’s book, Stephanos Bibas writes his article. In a much more neutral, unbiased fashion, Bibas uses his platform to expose truths, and address some of the bias in Alexander’s arguments, as well as the political left side of the spectrum. Bibas then takes time to expose the flaws in the political right side’s arguments as well. His overarching claim appears to be that the criminal justice system has changed its purpose for incarceration to one of profit, explaining a lot of the changes in prison systems. With Bibas’ entrance into the conversation makes way for both Eileen Fisher, and Sean Miller’s pieces. Both focus specifically on criminal’s reentry into society. They believe that not enough is done in this area to help convicts fully regain citizenship.
With this conversation set up, I plan to enter the “ballroom” using Alexander and Stevenson’s pieces as the basis for conversation. They talk about the flaws of the entire justice system, so using them simply to enter that realm of discourse is best. When my essay narrows down to the specific issue of rehabilitation services for criminals, the remaining 3 articles will become the focal points. I will piggyback off of Fisher and Miller’s points to show how little help is being offered to help prisoners re-enter society, how this lack of support affects said prisoners, and what question about the criminal justice system as a whole can be asked with this in mind. Statistics, as well as examples of how financial, educational, vocational, and mental/emotional support can help ease convicts back into society will be used to strengthen the argument. Bibas’ piece will serve as a good balance to ensure that both sides are represented as equal as possible.
Works Cited:
-Rivers, Eileen. “Re-Entry into Society, or Back to Prison?” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 31 Dec. 2017, https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/reentry/column/2017/12/29/reentry-incarceration-corruption-prison-barriers-recidivism-policing-usa/979903001/.
-ALEXANDER, MICHELLE. NEW JIM CROW: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. NEW PRESS, 2020.
-Bibas, Stephanos. “The Truth about Mass Incarceration.” National Review, National Review, 2 Oct. 2015, https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/09/mass-incarceration-prison-reform/.
-Miller, Sean. “US Prison Inmates Returning to Society: How Will They Be Received?” The Christian Science Monitor, The Christian Science Monitor, 20 May 2012, https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0520/US-prison-inmates-returning-to-society-How-will-they-be-received.
-STEVENSON, BRYAN. JUST MERCY: a Story of Justice and Redemption. SCRIBE PUBLICATIONS, 2020.
