Introduction
Throughout time, justice has been sought through the exercise of punishment against crime perpetrators. Offenders have been thrown into jail to serve long sentences especially in the late twentieth century into the twenty-first century. However, something that is shocking is the fact that our prisons are full which means that there is no more room to fit the new offenders. Furthermore, once these offenders are released from jail after serving their sentences, they seem to plunge back to crime. Such is an accentuation of the fact that the justice system needs to have a new strategy. They have to prioritize rehabilitation over corporal punishments for prisoners. The special correctional populations are among the prisoners that need such kind of attention. The community plays a role in meeting the needs of these special persons to ensure that they receive help instead of prison time. The essence of this essay is to elucidate the role of the community and perhaps, by doing so, promote awareness of how to help these challenged individuals.
The special population consists of prisoners who suffer from physical health and mental issues. Even though they are prisoners, there is no need for subjecting these people to cruel conditions. Instead, they should be taken to correctional facilities where they can receive the medical attention they require. Throwing them in prison only makes these criminals tougher. Once they leave the prison once they are free, they have no source of income. People are not always willing to hire ex-convicts because they do not feel safe with them (Beastiaens et al., 2015). As a result, these guys end up going back into crime. For a mentally challenged individual, he will end up doing harm to innocent people because he is not in control of his actions. Thus, it is important that the society plays its role in ensuring the best rehabilitation of these individuals. Furthermore, the state is obligated to provide health care for such persons to ensure that they recover from whatever ailments they suffer from (Beastiaens et al., 2015).
The community has a duty to accept these individuals as they are. For instance, a mentally challenged commits crime. If there is proof that the person is insane, rather than rush to execute the worst possible punishment, it is our obligation as a society to ensure that we take a preventive measure to curb the problem once and for all. To achieve this, the offender is taken to a psychiatric hospital where he is cared for until he is a useful member of the society (Caudill et al., 2014). Thus, as a better individual, he can participate in nation building through participation in the development of his community. The community plays the role of accepting this individual instead of treating him poorly because of his past sins. If the public accepts him, then he is most likely to become a constructive member of the society. If society fails him, it is possible he might slip back and become a criminal once again.
The community is supposed to invoke a sense of belonging in the ex-convict so that he feels he is where he belongs (Caudill et al., 2014). It is common to find ex-convicts suffering from stigma especially because they have been in jail. Furthermore, being in prison erodes their skills and practices which mean they do not have the skills to earn an income for themselves. Since they have no way to fend for themselves and they resort to crime for sustenance. If a community is not able to allow the new member into their fold, they will elevate the stigma which spells danger for the individual. Judging these people is not a move that will help these people. For rehabilitation to take place, it means that the offenders have been transformed fully into valuable members of society. Clearly, with the prison sales almost full, it does not make sense to release an inmate only to have him back where he started.
The community plays the role of guiding the ex-convict to ensure that he or she is on the right path. Each society has its set of principles regarding good and evil. Therefore, it is up to the society to instill the knowledge of good and evil at all of the levels of the society. It can achieve this by keeping tabs on the new member of the society to evaluate how well he is integrating with his environment. Through parole, where the ex-con reports to the police station where he is assigned to an officer of the law or a specialist of the government to evaluate his conditions, it is possible to measure how well the integration is going on. If the ex-con has secured a job or a work situation that can be a source of livelihood for him or her, it can be easy to measure the progress of integration (Maschi et al., 2013).
Conclusion
The community has a critical role to play in meeting the needs of the special correctional population. For adequate rehabilitation of special correctional populations in prisons, there is a need for participation from a society that these individuals will end up. The community plays the nurturing role to such persons to ensure that the positivity that rehabilitation has instilled grows instead of killing it. The community needs to ensure that they give the individual a chance by accepting him to help him lead a better life.
References
Bastiaens, L., Galus, J., & Goodlin, M. (2015). The 12 Item W.H.O.D.A.S. as Primary Self Report Outcome Measure in a Correctional Community Treatment Center for Dually Diagnosed Patients. Psychiatric Quarterly, 86(2), 219-224. doi:10.1007/s11126-014-9322-6
Caudill, J. W., Trulson, C. R., Marquart, J. W., Patten, R., Thomas, M. O., & Anderson, S. (2014). Correctional destabilization and jail violence: The consequences of prison depopulation legislation. Journal Of Criminal Justice, 42(6), 500-506. doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2014.09.009
Maschi, T., Viola, D., & Sun, F. (2013). The High Cost of the International Aging Prisoner Crisis: Well-Being as the Common Denominator for Action. Gerontologist, 53(4), 543-554
