It's easy to find statics that show lowering recidivism rates or spikes in crime. Politicians go on and on using negative ones to blast an opponent or positive ones to support some policy they're pushing. However all of this information is carefully curated to appeal to the middle and upper class. The only ones they actually worry about.
But the problem can't be solved at the victim level of society. It has to be addressed at the victimizer level. In the gutter where they never go. As a homeless kid who became a convict, I can tell you that the approach to a solution has been wrong from the start because it came from people who don't understand the actual problems.
Criminals aren't citizens. We're a different creature and a different culture. We didn't become criminals because we broke the law. We broke the law because we're criminals. The mind set comes before the action. As the saying goes, we're built different.
That said, this isn't a rant to address what creates us in the first place. That's a different topic for another time. This is about what to do with us after we already cross over. Yes, we are made. No one is born a criminal any more than we're born an adult. The problem is, once you become grown, you can't undo that change. Only influence and manage it.
The 1st rehabilitation tactic utilized in prison seeks to make us citizens again. To either undo the programming or teach us how to mimic the ideal behavior. "You should be this way", "this is how real people act" etc. Most cons reject this at the start. We feel like they're telling us to dance for them and sell out. Those who do participate do so for the certificate and play along to get credit for the program. They're gaming the system. No one, I mean NO ONE, has some epiphany during these shallow programs and miraculously sees the light. Killers don't go in and walk out with sweater vests and New England accents. These programs are designed by citizens in a way that would appeal to them, not to the real audience.
The 2nd tactic, which poisons almost everything rehabilitative inside, is the "why" method. Somewhere along the way some DRC moron decided that Sigmund Freud was the second coming and started asking Convicts "what made you this way?", "What happened to you?" Etc. This nonsense is the single worst thing that has ever happened to the rehabilitation process. They managed to find a system that's not only ineffectual but somehow makes US into the real victims. Their parents beat them, there was no father in the home, he was poor as a child, on and on and on the excuses keep coming. They went into what could be argued as being the most toxically masculine, alpha male, type A sub culture in America and said, "it's okay to cry", and "it's not your fault". I can't tell you how infuriating this is.
And guess what. We game you there too. The only effects that approach has is the weak ones use it as their go-to excuse every time they do anything in the future. Cons aren't above playing the pity card after we've done what we're going to do. Dope boy is on his 5th arrest and he's got an attorney spouting the conditions of his life. We don't believe it but we're glad you do. Plea deals beat convictions.
Recidivism is about 64% for non violent offenders and about 40% for violent ones since people love a Google statistic. The programs inside do nothing. The remaining 36% of non violent offenders are just guys who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ask around, they're usually a codefendant to someone who has multiple trips inside. They're mostly people who got caught up in another criminals crime. They didn't need fixing. As for violent offenders, that nature of crime has always been unique. Non violent crimes are based on goals and plans. It's the Hussle. Violent crimes are based on circumstances and reactionary. Your system didn't rehabilitate us, we simply haven't been put into a situation that demands we be violent. Recidivism rates only follow us for so long and then it quits keeping track.
As for anyone who tries to throw lowering rates over the years, I ask you to look at how they're measured. Neighborhoods, population size vs percentage, nature of crime, demographics. There are so many ways to manipulate these numbers. As a man who grew up inside, I'm telling you we don't care about these nonsense programs. It's just a certificate for the parole board or for a judicial release or good time hours.
This brings me full circle to my original point. Criminals aren't citizens. If you actually want to help us improve you have to come at us as we are, not as you want us to be. I'm a good man in the real world today because of Convicts, not because of counselors. Stop asking us "why" and start calling us out on "what". Why doesn't matter because it already happened and we already are. However "what", as in our literal actions in the current moment, can be addressed. We understand action and consequence better than most people because in our world both of those are actually dangerous.
Men have to call out men. We're aggressive and respond to it. Someone has to be able to stick their chest out and say, "you're wrong, fuck your reasons, that's dirty son" This isn't a program style someone from the outside with their college education and sit-com life can lead. It has to be handed to the men inside. Keep in mind, prisons aren't a death sentence because there's guards (they just keep us from escaping), it's because Convicts keep the order. We don't allow nonsense to go unchecked because it's our house. Those men need to be given the opportunity to take charge of the programming and do things they way we do them. There is a code on the inside that everyone there knows and we stick to it. Let the men who already run the place teach those involved how to keep it under control, how to be a convict in the real world, how to take what we already are and apply it to the world you live in. That's seeing us for what we are.
I'm very deliberate in my use of the term Convict in this as opposed to inmate and offender because they're a different breed. Convicts take what we are and apply our own moral compass. One that's compatible with the outside world and my position is based on that experience. The men who brought me up in there didn't change me, they taught me how to handle being me. That's rehabilitation. I'm a hard working man, a loyal husband and doting father. As a violent offender I'm still built the same way I was when I got into trouble, I just know how to manage myself now. All because the men in the gutter, criminals, taught me how.
You want to see recidivism plummet, put the men at the bottom in charge of lifting up those down there with them. Empower them to do what their already built to do. We all stay in touch after getting out and in 10 years I haven't seen another Convict go back. As for your rehabilitation program graduates, well, there’s a statistic for that.
The methods that you talk about here are along the same lines as military boot camp, which is a successful example out in the non-con world. And they work in the military. If you don't wash out of bootcamp, then you are less likely to be an asshole coming back to civilian life. I agree with your points about "rehabilitation" being useless. I have had the pleasure of "counseling" like this - and it is whiny BS. You are suggesting the more effective solution.
When I read this, "Killers don't go in and walk out with sweater vests and New England accents," I immediately laughed my heart out. I don't know if you intended it to be humorous but it sure made my dark humor side come out. Thank you.