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Why prison?

Prisons seem always to have been part of our society: for many of us, they are part and parcel of the world in which we live. While in undemocratic societies prisons were, and still are, used to enforce illegitimate governments, this article deals with democratic societies and common-law prisons. Most of us simply see these prisons as upholders of justice but have never really looked at why they are there, or considered a world without them. But they have not always been around. Although imprisonment is nothing new, prisons only date back to around the 16th century. Before then, punishment was usually something like confinement in stocks or the death penalty, while incarceration was reserved for prisoners awaiting trial. As the public came to disapprove of public executions, more private or less harsh methods for dealing with miscreants were devised, and one of these was the prison. Now, you could well ask what the actual purpose of prison is. Their general aim is fourfold: 1. To keep the prisoner away from the public. While the person is in prison, he or she is usually unable to harm the general public. 2. To pay the criminal back in some measure for what he or she has done to someone, or to the community. The major difficulty is determining exactly what the prisoner deserves for his or her offence. 3. To stop the criminal from committing the crime again. Again, it is difficult to determine the effect prison has on the prisoners: for some it acts as a deterrent, but others it drives to greater crimes. 4. To reform the prisoner. The system was thought up to turn a criminal into a peaceful, law-abiding citizen, but the many difficulties inherent in this mean this does not often happen. But how effective is prison in realising these goals? Prison is one of the few acceptable solutions to crime, but no one is really certain of its effectiveness. Studies carried out suggest that on the whole it is not terribly effective. There are many possible explanations for this. While it keeps the prisoner out of public life and gives them a safe haven in which to reform, the negative image of prisons may result in a low self-image for the convict. Another explanation is that prisons act a school for crime. While prisoners are frequently transferred to break up alliances and power bases, they usually share their knowledge and make contacts in prisons. Aside from this id the fact that many, coming from very poor backgrounds, find prison a place of comparative comfort: three meals a day, a bed and a roof over their heads, and so they continue to commit crimes to stay in the "luxurious" surroundings. So while prison remains largely ineffective, there are few plausible alternatives. There are precious few avenues to explore, and prison, as established as it is, seems likely to take us well into the future before a viable yet more effective solution to the difficulties of punishment is found.