I am not sure if I’d refer to prisons as “correctional facilities.” If they were then forty percent of released inmates would not return to jail within two years. This rate raises to well above fifty percent within three years. And guess what, sixty seven percent of people rearrested were charged with new crimes.Why is this? Some may go in a car thief and come out a murderer. Perhaps, it is the programs, or lack there of, in prisons.

Rehabilitation programs have shown to actually reduce the rate of recidivism under certain conditions. The non living in approach shows greater success rates. Also if a rehabilitation program addresses the Needs Principle, use cognitive behavioral approaches, and offer more hours of help to those with a higher risk of recidivism, the rate drops.

Here in Texas, the prison systems offer educational help to those below the sixth grade level as well as assistance to those seeking a GED, and and ESL program. There is also a vocational training program. There are also life skills programs and programs for those reentering society.Are these programs really working? Is it maybe that the people enforcing the programs do not have faith in them, themselves, causing the effects of the classes to be minimal? A study in Texas showed that there was an estimate of prison population increasing in population by 14,000 in the upcoming years! The recidivism rate has increased by twenty percent in the last ten years. And so in response what does the government do? They spend $523 million on creating more prisons. Now is it just me or does this sound insane? If you see a problem in the future why not try to find a solution to stop it before it occurs rather than just do nothing but create more space for more prisoners who could have probably been saved from returning. This also just spends money that our government doesn’t have and it would be cheaper in the long run to establish more programs or change the existing programs. This includes hiring qualified compassionate program managers.

Some programs offer meditation and yoga for prisoners which have statistically shown benefits in stress reduction for both the prisoners and prison staff. Others offer prison pet programs, choir, creative writing, drama, and even gardening programs. All of these have proved to lower recidivism rates and help the prisoners with self esteem and to reduce stress levels. The catch is that these programs are limited and offered only to a select few prisons. They are also nonprofits which means that they could be funded with all of the money put into expanding prisons. I suppose it will take our prison’s populations to expand even more along with the recidivism rate before our government officials actually takes steps to ensuring the actual “correction” within their facilities.