Prisons must change

Prisoners often become addicted to narcotics while in prison. That sounds preposterous, but it’s true. The place we send society’s most dangerous elements to rehabilitate them is full of illegal drugs. Over ten percent of Canadian prisoners tested positive in random drug tests; and that astonishing figure is probably low because many prisoners refused to be tested, presumably because they knew they’d fail.

Prisons can only work to rehabilitate their inmates if they are free from crime and a place for reflection and retraining. Unfortunately, Canada’s prisons are crime ridden, dirty, degrading and dangerous. They act more as a school for crime than a place of rehabilitation. In fact, the most recent Federal Government study showed that incarceration was associated with a slight increase in recidivism; a key study conclusion was that “Prisons and intermediate sanctions should not be used with the expectation of reducing criminal behaviour”.

The concept of a prison for rehabilitation is modern. Historically, prisons were intended as places to hold accused briefly pending trial or punishment; St. Paul’s time in prison was as someone awaiting trial. The concept of redemption through a restriction on liberty was alien to the premodern world.

Certainly the concept of rehabilitation was the driving force behind the creation of the modern penal system. The first Penitentiary Act (1779) began by speaking of “deterring others from the commission of … crimes [and] of reforming individuals and inuring them to habits of industry.” The concept of deterrence and reformation through incarceration remains the justification for prisons.

Unfortunately, the theory and practice of prisons is widely separated. In theory, separated from society and bad influences, the criminal will reflect on his errors and, with time and training, move on to become a productive citizen. The concept of quiet solitude combined with productive labour is well suited for spiritual and moral rebirth. In such circumstances prisoners might well be rehabilitated. Prisoners might spend time reflecting on their actions and see that they best avoid their former errors; instead, in practice, prison life is a struggle to survive and there is little room for reflection.

While some prisons, especially those holding inmates for extended periods, have adequate resources, all Canadian prisons fail to isolate prisoners from the bad influence of other prisoners. Fraudsters, robbers, thugs and the mentally unhinged (at least 15% of the population) mingle in circumstances of almost limitless intercourse. Add widely available narcotics to the mix and it’s hardly surprising that few reform.

What’s more, many prisons are grossly overcrowded and under resourced. Cells designed for one person hold three, and the prisoners are often held in those tiny spaces for periods of more than 12 hours on a daily basis. Violence is a commonplace, the problem made worse by overcrowding and drugs, and ill health, with tuberculosis widespread, is a daily fact of life. It defies common sense to think anyone will come out of such conditions an improved person.

Our system does not succeed in large part because it is not rational. It is possible to make prisons that are free from drugs and where prisoners are treated for ill health and protected from assault. The failure to make these reforms makes a mockery of the penal system. Prison reform, treating prisoners as human, does not mean prisoners are being mollycoddled. Punishment is a legitimate part of incarnation. But prison reform does mean that prisons must be designed to allow for improvement through incarceration – if we are to incarcerate people, and we do in large numbers, there must be at least a prospect of the incarceration doing some good.