PRISON FELLOWSHIP: recidivism

When Gus (a pseudonym) went to prison, Ronald Reagan was president. New episodes of M.A.S.H. were still airing, and Steve Jobs was getting ready to launch the Macintosh personal computer.

But Gus is getting out soon. Understandably, he’s feeling a mixture of fear and elation sometimes known as “gate fever.”

The following post originally appeared on the Justice Fellowship website.

With the amount of talk about recidivism, there is very little focus on people who do not commit another offense after their release. It is assumed that everyone who committed an offense poses a high threat of committing another one.

There aren’t too many things these days on which Republicans and Democrats agree.  Partisanship is high, and considering that this is an election year, the incentive for both parties to work together to solve problems is low.

There is, however, at least one issue that has elicited support from both liberals and conservatives: prison reform.

“15 Years In Environment Of Constant Fear Somehow Fails To Rehabilitate Prisoner,” proclaims the headline.  The subsequent article tells the story of Terry Raney, a recent parolee who has been reincarerated for assault and battery.

Albert Gunderson, warden of the Woodbourne Correctional Facility, seems baffled by Raney’s return to prison. 

When the word “prison” is mentioned, a some very common images come to mind – cold, gray bars set against drab, colorless walls; small, dark cells intended to isolate and punish rather than to reform or rehabilitate.  Acres of razor wire surrounding these facilities bespeak the philosophy that those on the inside are to be set apart, not to be connected in any meaningful way to society at large.

These are difficult days to be a prison official.

As prison populations have exploded in the last decade, many departments of corrections have had to deal with budgetary cutbacks and fewer resources in their attempts to rehabilitate prisoners and to prepare them for release. 

Can science determine an inmate’s propensity to re-offend? A new study suggests that by scanning a portion of the brain associated with decision-making, scientists are able to determine which prisoners are likely to be arrested again.

A team of neuroscientists from the Mind Research Network in Albuquerque, New Mexico, examined 96 male inmates preparing for release in two state prisons.