Incarceration

Incarceration has never affected me personally, but I know quite a few people who have been incarcerated or have had immediate consequences of incarceration in their lives. One of the most prevailing problems I see with incarceration is its lack of rehabiliation and reform services.

Jails and prisons are used to punish those who break the law, but instead of focusing on their reform as a preventative measure, most of the practices in jails and prisons are forms of punishment. This can be seen devastatingly in convicts after they are released.

Someone that I know was recently released from prison and they have had to deal with a lot of financial troubles recently. The reason they were incarcerated were because they broke mala prohibita laws, not mala in se. A mala prohibita law is something that has been made illegal simply because the government prohibits it, there’s nothing inherently or morally wrong with the act. A mala in se law is something that has been made illegal because it is morally wrong, like murder. It doesn’t make much sense that someone is punished for an act that is mala prohibita without reform, they are not bad or immoral people, they just made a mistake.

When many incarcerated people are released from jail or prison they don’t have much of their former life back, and it’s very hard for them to get back on their feet. The person I know has already had 4 different jobs in a few months, trying to get a stable income. It’s bad enough that the incarceration system is used as punishment, it’s worse that they don’t do anything to break the cycle.