Miriam Gonzalez
Educate Convicts
There are rules in life, and if they are broken by someone we tend to expect them to pay the consequences. Paying consequences for breaking a law sounds fair, but many times this is taken to extreme measure. For example, those who commit a crime have to do time in prison, where they get little to no education and get treated very badly. Several friends of mine have gotten locked up and some still remain behind bars because they committed a crime. I feel pity for them, because while they get mistreated they are not receiving an education. I think that nobody is perfect so everyone makes mistakes in life, therefore people should get a second chance. People can change according to Michael Kaiser; he says that 23% of those who received an education and then got released do not return (18-24). This is saying that the more education we provide criminals with, the less they are going to get involved with criminal activity. I also think people can change, just like Mr. Kaiser mentioned, so in my opinion it is not right for people to ignore and make criminals lives hard and useless in prisons. I mean that they should be helped instead of just being put in a cell for a certain amount of time, with no education that can make them change.
To begin with, imagine a person that you know is told that he or she is going to do time in prison. Once they are in, you stay in contact with them and you find out that life in there is very bad. That person says the life in prison is horrible, and that they are not really taught anything good. I experience something like this with one of my friends. When my friend was locked up in a Juvenile Center he stayed in touch and told me all about life behind bars. He said, “It sucks.” and I would not disagree, because he said the same thing as my other friends said when they were locked up. When I heard this from him I thought that if everyone is born equal, everyone should have the same rights. Meaning criminals, such as my friends, should receive a good education when they are locked up. Michael Kaiser also thinks that education is one of people’s rights; therefore even criminals should receive an education (18-24).This means that nothing should ever stop a person from receiving their education in life. The UNESCO's (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) set the standard treatments that prisoners should receive. They say that juveniles should get an education along with adult criminals because everyone should have the right to education. They should get education on how to improve their productivity and social ways with others, so if they get out they do not fail in their education. Criminals should have "access to education, including literacy programs, basic education, vocational training, creative, religious and cultural activities, physical education and sports, social education, higher education and library facilities"(UNESCO and prison education).
More oever, when we do something we regret in life, no matter how bad it is, we feel like we should fix it, and get a fresh start. If no one in life believed in forgiveness, or giving second chances there would be no way for us to fix our mistakes. Therefore, we would all be living a life full of regrets. I personally can not imagine how I would survive in a world like that; I would rather be around people who can accept the fact that no one is perfect, and that know how to forgive. Since we all know that each of us have made a mistake in life, and none of us are perfect, we should be willing to give second chances to others. When a crime is committed by someone, that person goes to jail and does time. While they are in there they should be helped out, and given motivation to change their lives. Palmetto program is one of many across the USA increasingly turning to education to reduce the rate of recidivism and to give inmates hope for their future. Organizations like these affect prisons in a positive way, like in a California the number of inmates decreased by more than 4,700 after an educational program. ( USA Today 1).There are many other states that have started to get organizations like these set up in their prisons, because they are seeing how much this does help. In order to change a criminal’s mind other people have to help them by educating their minds; this is going to give them a new point of view every day. When convicts are provided with an education they are given a chance to change up their lives.
Furthermore, I believe that when a mind is educated it tends to change up. The person thinks and acts differently than they did before they had a good education. I know that it is hard to change a person’s personality, because if this were easy people would change people to whichever way they desired. Even though I think that changing a person is hard I however, do not think it is impossible. If this was impossible all the organizations like Palmetto and UNESCO would of never have been successful. If education can reduce the number of inmates in prison that means that those criminals that did not return have changed. If they could not be changed, the capacity of inmates in prisons would have never decreased, and if anything they would have increased. Since states have realized that education changes people, some have spend around $1 million dollars on correctional education programs, which have prevented 600 new crimes (Michael Kaiser, 18-24). I think this is a good idea because it gets the government more involved, and after all like Jan Pauls said, “The government has a moral obligation to make sure inmates are in better condition when they leave than when they came in.” (Libby Quaid, 1). In some states like California, citizens have rallied up to protest against money spending on prisons. The people here say that too much money is spent on prisons, the place that is not to be a priority to help out. They say this because the more the state spends on the prisons the less the state helps the poor in the communities. Another reason mentioned is that helping prisons is not fair because those who chose a wrong path on their own are being supported, by getting an education (“Classrooms or Prison cells? 1”). My argument against this is that if we educate more people it is more likely that in the future there will be less uneducated people, therefore less poor communities in need.
In conclusion, I believe that convicts should have an education available to them while in prison. This is going to increase the number of educated people in the United States, making the country better. The sooner and better the people become educated, the easier it is going to be to reduce the number of crimes, according to Pierre Koning (Koning 1). For those who are locked up, I think that change should be given a chance, as in provide convicts with an education so they can straighten up their lives when are released, and hopefully never return. Giving every person the opportunity to get educated is fair, plus I think it is great because this is offering help to others that need it.
ARUM, RICHARD. "Education and Crime." Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice. Ed. Joshua Dressler. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2002. 607-613. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 5 Oct. 2010
Kaiser, Michael. "Correctional Education, Because It Works." Corrections Today Vol. 72, No. 4. Aug 2010: 18-20. SIRS Researcher. Web. 07 Oct 2010.
"The United Nations, UNESCO and prison education. " The Unesco Courier 1 Jun 1998: Platinum Periodicals, ProQuest. Web. 6 Oct. 2010.
