LSJ 377

Prison as Punishment
Ana Faoro
12/4/2013

Prison is the centerpiece of Americas punishment system. There is the court system
beforehand and parole, probation, or treatment afterwards, but prison occupies the most
punishment time, is the most visual punishment, and is seen as punishment itself in the eyes of
society. While prison is in place to serve as a deterrent and a rehabilitative facility, in reality
prison simply incapacitates offenders from society and generates and perpetuates a downward
spiral of disadvantage. Though reform is necessary for prison to accomplish its original goals, it
will be difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish.
Prison, because of its unappealing quality, perception by society, and isolation from
community, has the potential to address the main goals of punishment. Deterrence, retribution,
rehabilitation, and incapacitation cannot always be achieved in conjunction. Prisons are supposed
to accomplish all of these, though with limited success. Prisons are supposed to serve as a
deterrent to committing crime. The threat of incarceration aims to serve as a general deterrent to
committing crimes for the whole population while being put in prison aims to serve as a deterrent
to the criminal not to commit another crime for fear of being incarcerated again. Any act of
punishment by the state is at least partially an act of retribution towards the criminal. The state
wants anyone who broke the law and social order to pay for his or her actions. Incarceration is
one way the state accomplishes this. Societys general belief is that when criminals exit the
prison population, they will have gone under some reformation. So, the general populations
support and agreement with the punitive process stems from the idea that prisoners are
undergoing some sort of rehabilitation during incarceration in order to reintegrate into society.
Incapacitation is always achieved through incarceration because there is removal from society.
Though permanent incapacitation may not be attained, the person imprisoned is incapacitated for

however long his or her sentence is. The concept of prison addresses all four of the main goals of
punishment; however, not all are actualized.
Through incapacitation, incarcerated persons are stripped of many of their rights. While
in prison, in many facilities, felons are denied the right to vote, lack educational resources, are
deprived of the chance to earn a worthy living, and left without basic human contact. This is an
intended consequence of the prison system by the state. Those who dont follow the laws of
society will not be granted the same privileges as citizens that do. This ostracizes the underclass
of society where those who are caught for crime and imprisoned predominantly come from,
which only increases class disparities in society. However, this is counterproductive as the
stripping of rights and opportunities virtually guarantees a future in the at-risk social class for
them and their dependents.
The perpetuation and stabilization of those at the top of the social hierarchy is an
intended consequence of the prison system. Though this is a consequence that those who run the
prison system do not want to acknowledge, those in power are generally intent on keeping their
power. People who began life in the underclass of society can follow a life path that either ends
in prison or is surrounded by those who go to prison, all but guaranteeing that they remain in the
underclass of society. (Murakawa) Once an offender has exited the penal system, he or she
remains branded for life and will continue to be disadvantaged by the conviction, increasing the
disadvantage of the incarcerated individual. (Murakawa) The imprisoned status alone is enough
to complicate citizen rights and job opportunities. By isolating individuals or homogenous
groups from society and the work force, it allows those who have climbed the social ladder to
rest assured they will always have more power or influence than those that have been

imprisoned. (Ignatieff) Though not admitted, keeping the social order through the use of prison is
very much an intended affect.
The over population of prison resources is an unintended consequence of imprisonment
policies. Due to the rapid increase in incarceration rates, the prison system has out-grown itself.
Prison infrastructure cannot keep up with the growing numbers in prison, making the prison
system less than organized. Overcrowding is common; some prisoners have an extremely low
quality of life due to the poor facilities they are housed in and the lack of safety in the prison.
(Ross) Space is limited and the guard-to-prisoner ratio can get to an unsafe point. The support for
and overuse of prisons has created an unsafe or inhumane place for prisoners. The
dehumanization of this population further disconnects them from society at large.
In order to partially deal with this unintended consequence of utilizing the prison system
and using mass incarceration as a solution to crime, the state has had to outsource prisons to
private companies. (Armstrong) This puts the power to punish in the hands of those not
appointed by elected officials. The monopoly the state previously had on legal force and violence
is eliminated and companies can now be paid to punish. This has decreased the legitimacy of the
penal state by allowing non-state officials to use force or violence on citizens, the same action
the criminals were incarcerated for.
Prison has become a stage in the life course for many disadvantaged people. (Pettit and
Western) For some, it has replaced what a college education or time spent in the military is for a
young adult. Instead, a stay in prison has become a life event, which greatly diminishes the
chance of other common life course events, such as employment and marriage, from occurring.
(Pettit and Western) Unintendedly, the use of prison as a punishment has become a stage in
which adolescents grow out of the system. School or employment is no longer viable or

attractive to a young adult who has been to prison, and the standard social marks of entering
adulthood will never be attained for that individual. In addition, laws excluding the convicted of
common offenses from eligibility for student loans are a statutory disability perpetuating the lack
of educational opportunity, depriving the population of the best path to upward mobility.
Both the lack of resources for at-risk individuals and the lack of alternatives to the
carceral state are ways that the carceral system perpetuates itself. It has created a positivefeedback loop in which committing a crime and being incarcerated then released back into the
same environment which possibly encouraged him or her to commit the crime in the first place
increases the likelihood of committing another crime and increases the prison population even
more. (Wacquant) Criminals who enter prison also enter an environment conducive to meeting
contacts in criminal affairs, honing their criminal skills, or adopting an attitude of violence,
creating a pathway back into crime. (Pettit and Western) Policies such as the three strikes rule,
mandatory minimums, and truth in sentencing laws continue this increase in prison population.
(Zimring)
Imprisonment, therefore, does not actually decrease the likelihood of crime occurring.
Though it does incapacitate individuals for a while, there is a lack of a deterrent affect for people
most likely to be charged and incarcerated for a crime. Prison removes individuals for society,
but does not decrease crime rates. (Lowman and Menzies) The drug addict does not stop mid-use
to consider the risk of imprisonment. The person committing a crime generally assumes that they
will not be caught to face punishment. Thus, the deterrent model does not work. Punishment,
then, becomes being isolated from society rather than reforming criminal behaviors or combating
addiction. Instead of creating a greater citizenship, the quick fix becomes the norm and crime

rates remain stable despite the type of punishment or reformation the offender needs.
(Armstrong)
Though they occupy a smaller percentage of the population, blacks are incarcerated in
about the same number as whites; likelihood of arrest is about eight times higher for blacks.
(Roberts) Blacks are disadvantaged before entering, while in, and after exiting the penal system.
(Pettit and Western) Selective policing and higher rates of arrest are common in predominantly
black communities and are released back into the same neighborhood in which they were first
arrested. (Pettit and Western)
Though there is a focus on racial issues when addressing the current American penal
system, all disadvantaged groups can be traced back to financially marginalized populations.
Racial minorities, women, and children all lack the financial privilege and legal privilege that
white males are generally born into (Daly and Tonry). Blacks and Hispanics are apt to earn less
than their white counterparts, due to long-term structural favoritism (Roberts). The historical
social norm is that women are reliant on the males of their society, such as their father or
husband, disadvantaging the women in the modern day work force, and patriarchal assumptions
are placed on women in both the workforce and in prison (Martel). While men occupy 90% of
the prison space (Reiman) and are therefore marginalized in that respect, those men might be the
financial providers for women or children left behind. Children, in the legal definition, generally
have little to no assets or say in legal institutions and are likely to be underrepresented by the
system. Young adults in their 20s and 30s are less likely to be established financially and are also
more likely to be incarcerated (Pettit and Western). All of these population groups experience a
financial disadvantage as well as some sort of legal disadvantage in the penal system.

Imprisonment, then, can be determined by race, age, and education, all relatable by
income. (Pettit and Western) If being included in a prison population is more likely for any
person over another, then those who procure that disadvantage are disparately impacted by
prison over the rest of society.
In order to combat the one-size-fits-all prison term, the prison system could benefit from
more individualized treatment. Prison should be eliminated in use except when there is an
extreme need to incapacitate individuals and remove them from the rest of society. This should
be for populations not amenable to rehabilitation and constituting an unreasonable risk to the
community. In lieu of prison, treatment and social welfare programs should become more
available. Money saved from less prisons operating could be put into programs that help
offenders with addictions, job skills, or increasing their quality of life in order to lessen their
likelihood of reoffending. (Armstrong, Simon) If the prison system and its funds are used instead
to cater to the needs of the individual offender rather than just incarcerating all offenders, the
probability of rehabilitation, the idealized goal of prisons and the penal system, is increased.
(Beckett) Individualized punishment and treatment does not mean determining sentences or
requirements based on age, gender, race, or income for every participant in that generalized
group. It would require finding the root as to why the crime was committed and working to solve
that problem. It would not be a perfect or seemingly ordered system like a prison, but would
actually combat crime and realize societys idealized goal of punishment: rehabilitation.
Many of the problems associated with the prison system stem from societys and
governments belief that prisons are needed. (Armstrong) Tough on crime ideologies and
policies contribute to the common view that prison is a permanent structure in Americas penal
system. Politicians can always benefit from the get tough on crime approach, while there is no

effective lobby group for those convicted of crimes. The approach of putting those convicted of
crimes in prison is a no-lose proposition for politicians seeking to maintain or enhance reputation
and power. Therefore, reform must stem first from political figures brave enough to tackle the
underlying problems of an unpopular demographic because only the politicians have ample
visibility, the authority to comment on penal procedures, and the power to spark change. If the
focus on attracting votes shifts to being honest to the public about the amount of reformation the
penal system and prisons need, then, perhaps the anxiety of being a victim of or surrounded by
crime would reduce among the general public. (Beckett, Zimring) Reducing fear of crime would
reduce the need for such a harsh penal system that uses prisons.
As much as reform is needed within the prison system, the needed reformation would be
hard to decide, agree, and act upon. The prison system currently perpetuates itself by pulling
prisoners from areas of disadvantage and churning out reoffenders. In order to stop its
perpetuating factor, sentences would have to be retroactively altered, potentially releasing
prisoners who are dangerous or have not served their entire conviction. It would be a slap in the
face to many actors in the criminal justice system including policemen, judges, and prosecutors
who worked hard to put those who are guilty behind bars. This approach would have systemic
opposition in the legal and enforcement community.
Why would people want to give those who violated social order more resources than the
average citizen or a chance to stay on the streets and reoffend? Those in power who create the
social hierarchy, often those who also have political power, have no reason to want to change the
social structure. Indeed, how do you justify funding programs for offenders, where schools and
senior programs are often cut? Social welfare and what is considered fair allotment of resources

is a tough subject to address, especially when a constituency already has a low amount of
resources for law-abiding citizens.
The prison structure needs to be reformed. It does not address societys goal of the penal
system and perpetuates disadvantage and social hierarchy. Its infrastructure and punishment style
is outdated and ineffective. Prison is unfairly applied to certain groups and still does not combat
or decrease crime. However, the possibility of improving prisons is low without an entire
overhaul of the whole American penal system because prison is the main structure and
centerpiece of the entire system. To study the punishment of prison is to also study all
punishment attached to prison including accumulating disadvantage, removal of rights such as
disenfranchisement, supervision after imprisonment, and the court system before entering prison.
Therefore, to reform the prison structure, it is necessary to reform policing, courts, and
punishment including prisons, probation, and parole.