My Shawshank Redemption

Very interesting.

Yes, very. Say, you don't suppose that a sincere attempt at rehabilitation can actually...rehabilitate? I wonder if there're any stats on the recidivism rate at this facility compared to other prisons in Cal.

Wow, that sounds amazing. I have a cousin who is in prison here in California, and it does sound like an incredibly broken, hellish system. He's not at all a hard case, just a very depressed, troubled person, and all that prison is doing to him is screwing him up more than he was... I sure wish the Honor Program model would be adopted more widely. Too bad they make too much money of off the prison system as it is now to want to fix it.

Question; can a liberal "rehabilitate" another liberal?

From my own personal experience, I would say that this type of rehab attempt would be highly sucessful...no one "cure" will ever unbend, or open every criminal mind...but yeah, I would embrace this whole heartedly.

I have grown up in a fairly poor area, and I've seen a large percent of my age group...my peers...waste their lives away, on the various vices that tend to be associated with poor folk....meth has been the real killer of late. Most of them have served some jail time, spent time in drug rehab clinics, and seem to be perpetually on "paper"...that is their term for being on probation...I hate the phrase with a passion...it's so nonchalant, and I hear it at least once a week.

I won't try to play it off that I'm some sort of perfect citizen, but with little to no effort, I've easily been able to avoid any and all of that bs. This fact comes up from time to time, usually when one of my peers returns from one of the various forms of incarceration...when asked...."How did you avoid all this?"...I generally give them the Nancy Reagan answer...I just didn't/don't do it, it's that simple. It truly is that simple, if you don't smoke crack, you can't get addicted to it....but...for some folks it's not that easy, which has always been difficult for me to understand...but I don't have to understand it to know that it is true.

My more "real" response to that question....is that as a child, I was always surrounded with creative outlets...paint, puzzles, all types of music, and most importantly...to me anyway...books, I never "wanted" for information, if I did...it wasn't for long. Knowledge is power, with power comes responsibility...that's a slight play on two phrases...but it rings true, and fits me nicely. My fulfilled self, gives me the power to stave off the nonsense that ruins so many of the people's lives around me....I am simply much to responsible for that...I know better.

There are two words that I often use to poke fun at...well, liberals....intellectual, and enlightened, but it is more toward the attitude that certain individuals possess, more so that their educational background, or their open mindedness....there is nothing more important to me than my children learning to learn....that and an ability to pay their rent. The best way to dig yourself out of a hole is to learn your way out....right brain...logic...left brain...creativity, combine the two...solve the problem....but you have to want to. These guys in the Honor Program, they want it, they have gone so far as to established societal rules amongst themselves to insure that goal...a tough hard line not to screw up..."You will learn"...for some folks that what it takes.

Been looking for info:



http://www.prisonhonorprogram.org/#What is the Honor Program


Hard times:

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/apr/27/local/me-honor27

But continuing?

http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/News/2007_Press_Releases/Press20070323.html


http://www.prisonhonorprogram.org/SenatePublicSafetyHearing.htm



Can't find any hard data....

Though this claim is made in one of the articles I referenced:

"A study released by Lancaster prison officials in 2003 compared illegal activity in the yard before and after the honors program was established. It showed that weapons infractions decreased 88%, violence and threatening behavior dropped 85% and drug-related offenses and trafficking were down 43%."



But, in my view, any decency and opportunity for development experienced by inmates is a good thing.

Sure beats endless prison muscle building.

Some general prison program stuff, including the Honour Program:

http://listverse.com/crime/top-10-modern-prison-programs/

Great post, 2packs. I was a teacher at juvenile detention facilities for a dozen years. I also come from a background similar to that of many of the youths I taught so there was no problem with our relating to each other. Any teachers that came from upper middle class homes in the suburbs, these guys would've ground up for breakfast. And did. Many of these kids -- and we had people accused of rape, armed robbery, assault, even murder in a couple of instances -- were remarkeably creative and bright, given enough chance to express themselves.
You wrote:


The last phrase is the key. Without motivation, no system is going to work. There are always those who are proud to be known as 'gangstas', who have unswerving loyalty to their drug-dealing clique, and who value the 'hood above all. They're doomed. It's the ones who're interested in leaving the 'hood behind, in achieving something better who can be helped by such a program. It's like rehab. Twelve-step porgrams for alcoholics and drug abusers work only if the person is genuinely interested in getting help, in bettering their lives.

I was talking to someone about the psychology of criminal tendencies. Because I taught in a prison and worked among adult males who had committed all sorts of crimes from forging passports to attempted murder and rape, I'd had the opportunity to talk to and learn from people who were in the very situation the author of the opening post described.

At the beginning, I was convinced, after hearing the majority of their stories, that there was a situational component (something 2 pack alluded to) in their upbringing - maybe a lack of educational or creative opportunities- as well as an innate tendency to suffer from impulsivity which often resulted in rash and reckless behavior- almost as if the concept of actions leading to consequences had not been learned- or maybe could simply not be adhered to.

And during the time I taught at the prison, I was impressed by the array of opportunities available to these men in terms of educational, creative and physical activities. There was a prison choir, a prison band, art and pottery classes where really amazing talent was on display...cooking classes, etc., etc.
And most of the guys participated. There were six units- each offering or enforcing varying degrees of security. Only one was set aside for those who were still known drug users - although I did learn as I taught there that drug use was still pretty rampant throughout the prison.

What I viewed and what I hadn't thought of before was that often - no matter how intent the person was on staying clean, or refusing to engage again in the behavior that had landed him in prison- there almost inevitably arose an instance in which the person reoffended (even in such a censuring and/or supportive (however you choose to label it) environment).

And so, I began to wonder if the tendency to offend criminally might be a sort of compulsion- like washing your hands too often. I thought of this because once I was talking to one of the men and he asked me not to leave my bag in the room with him. I never had my wallet in it - we locked any of our valuable or identifying material in our cars - we were cautioned not even to bring them into the prison - but apparently he didn't know this. And he told me, 'Don't leave your bag in the room with me - I don't want to steal from you.'

It was then that I realized that some of these behaviors might be as addicting and engaged in as compulsively but also reluctantly as drug abuse or drinking or any other compulsion.

But the question that most interested me was this: Do most of the people who engage in these activities feel bad about engaging in them and truly wish to stop? I'd like to believe this is the case - that the guy who wrote about his opportunities at this prison to change his life- is in the majority.

Unfortunately, I think there are some who view their ability to get over on the system or other individuals as thrilling and it is this thrill, as much as constantly reliving the experience of the actual illegal activity they engage in, that they're compelled to constantly chase.

What was most interesting to me was the fact that these men all recognized each other and were constantly warning me each about the other. They were more judgmental of their fellow prisoners than any other the teachers I worked with were. And I worked with some pretty middle class teachers - all of whom had one thing in common- an open mind. We hadn't been immersed in what seemed to be pretty common environmental pathologies as they had. I really had no opinion about any of it before I worked there - because I didn't know it - but they all knew each other's stories intimately...they'd lived it. So they knew what each other were capable of.

No one even tried to chew me up and spit me out though - if anything they were protective and it was the most orderly and polite teaching environment I'd ever taught in. I'd take it before public school in a second.

A girlfriend of a close friend taught literature and creative writing at the same prison as the article - or I think it was the same one - back in the eighties. I barely met her much less talked with her about it. Anyway, Aidan, I found your comments interesting/useful.

So, these are probably complex matters of behavior and psychology and at least somewhat of background opportunity. Still, I'm, from here, a fan of that "model" system.

thank you Osso

At the risk of exposing my cynicism I have to say that it is just too bad this guy couldn't figure out how to live within the "honor system" before he killed someone and I have to wonder if he would have taken advantage of self-help and creative outlets if he hadn't been bored out of his mind in prison.

With that said I'll add that it makes me absolutely furious every time I read about cuts to Head Start and other proven programs for early intervention while the next page of the paper details the plans for a new prison.

It makes me crazy that the same people who are always sobbing about welfare/social programs/hand outs/boot straps/my money/ whatever are the same ones who insist everyone get locked up with the keys thrown away.

As a taxpayer I would much rather foot the bill for educational opportunities to people who haven't been sent to prison already.

What are prisons in Norway really like?
Erwin James visits Skien high security prison in southern Norway, and finds that behind the forbidding walls rehabilitation and education are key

Some of those Norse convicts probably post on A2K, unbeknownst.

Damn fine thing if so.

Oh, absolutely. Certainly raises the general tone of many an otherwise lackluster thread.

Red, with my underpants down.