NCJ Number
100777
Date Published
1985
Length
18 pages
Annotation
Sentence lengths and the nature of maximum security imprisonment combine to damage inmates' personalities to such an extent that they cannot function independently in society after release.
Abstract
In 1984, 1 of every 500 New York State residents was in a State prison, and the State is about to embark on a multimillion dollar prison expansion program. This costly policy of wholesale imprisonment is pursued in the face of evidence that prison not only fails to rehabilitate offenders, but debilitates their capacity to function normatively in society after their release. Major factors contributing to this debilitation are constant threats of violence from other inmates, isolation from normative social influences, restricted personal control, mental deterioration in an unhealthy social environment, lack of privacy, absence of normal sex, and physical deterioration and abuse. The effects of long-term imprisonment are so devastating it should be used only as a last resort. Alternative sentences should be the rule rather than the exception, and no prison sentence should be so long that it undermines the goal of a successful integration in normative society after release. 65 footnotes.