Positive changes in the law are implemented, prisoners are cut loose to face the world alone, without any preparation and once released, they’re unable to cope with the riggers of life and responsibility because they’re not prepared. Circumstances of this nature are a recipe for failure, and give credence to the arguments of those who speak out against prison reform.
S.2123 does not just propose “Sentencing Reform.” The full title of the bill is, “Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act”. The bill highlights the need for education and job skills training. If you log-on to the website of any federal penitentiary, you’ll find a “portfolio” of programming and training the institution claims to offer. However, most penitentiaries are advertising falsely.
They do not provide substantial education opportunities, and they certainly don’t provide job readiness training. Despite what an institution’s “portfolio” may claim, vocational training and apprenticeship programs are also unavailable. But aside from the overcrowding, there is another contributor to the education problem.
There is no oversight system in place holding prison officials accountable for failing to provide the much needed job training within the institutions. The internal B.O.P. oversight system that’s in place, Annual Program Review, is wholly ineffectual. The system is inundated with the “We look out for our own” culture amongst B.O.P officials. So, if there are serious lapses in the effectiveness of the Education Department, there are no real consequences. This renders the entire review process useless.
If the B.O.P. averaged $7 billion dollars in annual budgets over the past several years, and there are no real programs for job training or apprenticeship programs, then where is all that money being diverted? The public must be made aware that, although prison officials claim they are providing prisoners with education and job training, the harsh truth is, they’re not.
Thousands of prisoners are released each year. So when officials like John Ashcroft condemn S.2123 because the release of so many prisoners will threaten “public safety,” we must ask when prisoners have had no exposure to the education or job training needed to help change their attitude and perception of life, how much safer will the public really be?
Most penitentiaries are overcrowded and understaffed. They do not provide substantial education opportunities, job readiness training, vocational or apprenticeship training programs. What is offered is shallow, and without substance. The importance of having more substantial education within our penitentiaries must come to the forefront of our public discussions in regards to reforms.
The public must hold institutions accountable for their failure to help rehabilitate prisoners and make our communities safer. Sentencing Reform without education, job readiness training, and a more effective release preparation process amounts to nothing more than the “Recidivism Trap.”
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Article Appeared @http://www.gorillaconvict.com/2016/04/the-recidivism-trap/