Mission and Role of Prisons, Essay Example

Officially it is preserved that there are no actual prisons in the United States, but there is a Department of Corrections with the correctional facilities, educational programs and vocational training. Consequently, there are no prisoners as well, for there are only “inmates”. As well as there are no political prisoners, but “terrorists” and those who “perpetrate criminal violence”. There is a popular belief that the primary function of prisons is merely to lock criminals up. Even though it may not be entirely untrue, it is also only a very small portion of the role that prisons play in our contemporary society. The primary functions of correctional facilities are to implement and provide control, custody and care to any person convicted of a criminal offense. Most people agree that prisons should reform prisoners, rather than punish them, thus making a sufficient contribution to the maintenance and protection of a just, peaceful and safe society. So the primary mission of prisons is enforcing the sentences of the courts, thus detaining all prisoners in safe custody while ensuring their human dignity and promoting the social responsibility along with human development of all prisoners.

So, the purpose and primary mission of prisons should be to help people rehabilitate themselves in order to become full-fledged members of the society. However, the harsh reality is that they are actually shoved into cells and left alone. People pay their taxes thus donating towards the prisons maintenance, but it seems like they do waste their money for no rehabilitation takes place. In fact it seems like everything happening in prisons is privatized and companies build the prisons for gaining profit, thus offering no solutions along with more problems to be solved. Eventually, prisons should provide only good things in life and encourage the right behavior, specialize in rehabilitating specific types of individuals.

Works Cited

Pollock, J. M. (2005). Prisons: Today and Tomorrow. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.