NCJ Number
84041
Date Published
Unknown
Length
0 pages
Annotation
State corrections officials graphically illustrate the numerous problems endemic in corrections and cite examples of inhumane conditions, particularly in Alabama prisons.
Abstract
The director of the National Campaign Against Prisons and former commissioner of corrections in Massachusetts analyzes the reasons for resistance to change in corrections systems. He argues that poor prison conditions act to corrupt, not rehabilitate, inmates. Many inmates and even some guards are raped in Alabama prisons, and the institutional food is terrible. Other corrections officials assert that prison administrators and staff must commit themselves to change and must use available community resources to do so. There is no 'corrections' system: it is a prison system. To change the system, prisoners should stop cooperating with it. They should fight for full employment, social and political equality, equal educational opportunity, and fundamental civil rights for all. Prisoners must be treated as human beings. Correctional administrators who try to implement change risk losing their jobs, but the only way to avoid this risk is to preach rehabilitation and practice punishment. The language used by panel members may offend some audiences.