From Army Service to Supervising Prisoners: My Career in Corrections - Research Paper

Introduction

I started my career in Corrections while serving in the United States Army. In 1997 I was assigned to the United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB). This prison houses convicted criminals that committed crimes while serving in all branches of the military. It is the only facility of its kind and houses all custody levels. While there, I worked in the kitchen and was tasked with supervising a 20-man detail of African American inmates that prepared roughly 7000 meals a day for their fellow inmates. While supervising these convicted criminals I had the opportunity to gain some personal relationships and insight on them as individuals. They would open up and explain to me their crimes, their family backgrounds and their work history and what lead them to commit the crime(s) to be incarcerated or re-incarcerated.

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What I hope to learn about this topic is how to teach today's youth the signs of Social Injustice and ways to prevent it. I will do so by speaking on my experiences and discussing with them how not to get caught up in the cycle. I will encourage them and give them examples of my life experiences. More so than anything, I will give them a representation of my life and positive things to do.

I have selected this topic because it really hits home for me. I grew up in Sumter South Carolina, a small rural town. My grandparents had 7 kids. Four out of seven, including my mother, were incarcerated at the same time for drug trafficking, money laundering, and a host of other crimes. After their initial sentences were complete it started a vicious cycle of them entering in and out of the Penal System.My proposed research topic hopes to answer the following research questions. Do restorative practices lower recidivism rates compared to the traditional system? What measures should the government put in place to reduce the chances of the youth engaging in repeated criminal activities? Do long jail terms have any significant impact on the recidivism? What role does the community have in the integration of those released from the prisons? The problem presented by this research topic is the tendency of convicted criminals to re-offend or to relapse into their previous behaviors. The issue of recidivism has existed for a long time, and there is a need to come up with an effective solution on how to reduce its recurrence.

Concerning the information, I have data on the number of people who are incarcerated in the United States, their percentage in terms of race, and those who get reincarcerated after they are released from the prisons. There is also information on the category of criminal activities that lead to the conviction of the felons. There is also information on the average time these felons take to be reconvicted. The information I do not have but for which I would need is what motivates these people to engage in the criminal activities for which they had been convicted.

The concept that I think will best address the problem of recidivism is through government policies. The government should come up with better ways of rehabilitating convicted felons so that they can smoothly integrate into society when released from the prisons. To understand the better ways of addressing the problem, information is needed on the social and professional background of the criminals.

The following are some of the major assumptions in the research. The first assumption is that all the respondents in the study understand and are able to read and respond to the English language used in the questionnaires. The second assumption is that no one is falsely convicted. The third assumption is that all the respondents questioned in the research would provide the correct information. The last assumption is that what goes on in prison doesn't really affect an inmate's pattern of offending after prison.

The proposed solution to the problem of recidivism education training and employment of the offenders to reduce crime and prevent re-offending. Treatment of mental illness is another possible solution to the problem. The implications of education are that the offenders will have something to do, and this will keep them away from criminal activities. Education is empowerment to them, and employment is even more. The potential consequence if this solution does not work is that the ex-offenders will have knowledge which they can use to develop themselves.

My point of view is that prisons are not always required and that the government should recognize the critical role played by parole and probation in reducing the rates of crime. The other points of views that should be considered in addressing this problem is that the safety of people and communities should be kept. The criminals should be held accountable, and there should be consequences for illegal activities.

From the implications of the proposed solutions, it is clear that the solution would have more good than bad. Besides, the consequences are also positive, which implies that the solutions are ideal in dealing with the problem. The government should, therefore, ensure there are robust systems for the education, training, and employment of ex-offenders. They should also be treated so that they can be able to avoid engaging in repetitive criminal activities. The possible negative implication of using parole is that the public may be exposed to insecurities of these criminals whose intentions may not be clear.