PRISON REFORM: A VISION OF THE FUTURE

PRISON REFORM: A VISION OF THE FUTURE

Like many others, I would like to see prison-reform head in a refreshingly-new direction: toward public service, specifically. Eventually, as the model becomes a working-reality for those most-eligible for the program, others can increasingly be added to the program. As the percentages increase and increasingly-positive results are verified, new more-attractive programs can be added to those already in place, as well as proper incentives to encourage other inmates to apply for the programs being offered. Just as prison camps and penal colonies became institutional prisons, and just as chain-gangs became license plate factories and litter-removal crews, this program would elevate community service to new, more far-reaching levels. Some of those I envision would include: road-building, agricultural infrastructures such as irrigation projects, terracing, reforestation, and some eco-friendly land reclamation, recreational infrastructures: parks, hiking and bicycle trails, picnic areas, camping areas, building and maintenance projects on a national, state, county, city, and local level, solar-projects, etc. Inmate housing can become permanent infrastructure within the setting of each project. As inmate work increases in diversity and complexity, and incentive is created inside the prison system to be a part of this proactive community-building program, overall morale will also improve. Physical work increases body function, appetite and healthy brain-function. Prisoners are thereby encouraged to do well for themselves, their fellow prisoners, and society in general. When a job is well-done, these prisoners may well look back some day on a project they were involved with, and tell their families with pride, “Do you see this campground here in Yosemite? I helped build it! Do you see those cabins over there? I did the roofing and the drywall.” Contrast this positive outlook and new skill-sets with the average current morale and recidivism that describe our existing justice system, and you catch a vision of what our future could be like. Instead of “Do the Crime, Do the Time,” the new slogan could be “Let’s Build Our Future.”

Mark Overt Skilbred