prisons model
According to Smith, et al (2014), the purpose of therapeutic prison is to deliver rehabilitative interventions for the inmates. It was revealed that the therapeutic prison must have three key documents including a clear mandate, definite goals that are shared by the key administrators and frontline members, and finally, a documented code of ethics (Smith, et al., 2014). By having a clear mandate will determine the specific goals of the institution and to ensure that the mission and vision statement is realized. When the mission statement has been made clear to the administrators and the members, there is a greater likelihood that the goals are met according to the intended framework. It is also important to have a code of ethics that is formally explained to the frontline members and staff to establish the organizational culture and expectations from each of them.
On the other hand, the health prison design simply means that the prisoners should be given access to quality healthcare. With the passage of Obamacare, the reform inside the prisons is also affected which means that the inmates should be given access to social welfare services such as education, job training and medical education. The situation of the prison is a reflection of the moral health of the society. Thus, when the prisoners are not given access to their basic rights, there is a tendency that they become ill due to impoverished and unhappy disposition in life (Potter and Rosky, 2014). When cruel and unusual punishments are imposed upon the prisoners such as placing them in crowded prison cells, there is a greater probability that they will not be reformed. Hence, providing the inmates access to their basic needs such as food, shelter and medicines will promote their overall mental and physical health. In effect, it is also in keeping with the intention to give decent lives to the inmates.
In my opinion, I believe that the healthy prison design is more beneficial for the inmates. The therapeutic model of prisons is more theoretical than the healthy prison design. This can be seen in the cases of California prisons which had experienced problems on prison overcrowding. The crisis in the California prisons resulted to the adoption of the minimum sentencing policies by the prison system to avoid prison violence due to overcrowding. In order to resolve the problem on the gross overpopulation of prisons, the state has to adopt policies to improve the condition of the corrections system.
In line with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of Brown v. Plata decided in 2011, the court held that the failure of the state of California to provide the inmates the minimum health care requirements should result to the release of the majority of the inmates because it is tantamount to cruel and unusual punishments clause as provided under the Eighth Amendment. The main purpose of the prison reform should be rehabilitative in nature. Thus, the growing problem of prison overcrowding can result to more detrimental effects to the inmates because it may hamper their mental and physical health.
In my opinion, the health prison design is more effective in order to avoid prison overcrowding and to promote the health and safety of not only the inmates, but as well as the personnel and administrators of the prison cells. The main purpose of putting the offenders behind bars is to rehabilitate them and promote reformation. Such objective to promote the rehabilitation of the inmates due to prison overcrowding that due to lack of benefits such as insufficient number of beds, health supplies, crowded bathroom facilities, and lack of recreational activities.
References:
Cullen, F.T., Jonson, C.L. and Stohr, M.K. (2014). The American Prison: Imagining a Different Future. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE.
