Prison life and strategies to decrease recidivism upon an inmate's Research Paper

Prison life and strategies to decrease recidivism upon an inmate's release from prison - Research Paper Example Such person who has propensity of committing crimes after release from prison is a recidivist. Different jurisdictions have different laws, definitions and coverage on what recidivism should be but they are more or less similar. Since prisoner rehabilitation is part of the program of reforming the convict, the government has to devise strategies in order to avert recidivism among ex-prisoners. Correctional officers and staff though must function according to the goals of reducing recidivism. Tewksbury and Demichele (2003) said that prison personnel generally view that the correctional process is more on â€Å"incapacitation, deterrence and retribution† (p. 4). Implementers should revisit the support given to the program since it generally varies at according to time and place (Tewksbury & Demichele, 2003). It was posited that such variation may be attributed to the substantially fast turnover rate of 20 to 50 percent, which means that many are new to the job, or that the priso n system are hiring lesser personnel (Tewksbury & Demichele, 2003). ... With the ballooning recidivism, it was suggested to better leave out abstract values in mission statements and instead focus more on end-goals of the operation. This paper will show that socially and humanitarian based interventions in the prison system will lessen the propensity of a released prisoner toward recidivism. Medical Care One of the concerns that a person encounters upon entering prison is the lack of freedom to seek the health care provider one desires. The condition inside prison cells, such as congested spaces, limited movement, mixture of cultures, etc. might have a toll upon the mental and physical health of an inmate. Thus, adequate health service must be provided inside the prison so that the health of the prisoner can be adequately managed. The Bureau of Prisons provide four levels of medical care to which inmates are assigned by the Designation and Sentence Computation Center (DSCC) based on the information gathered from the investigation report (Ellis, 2008). Up on arrival at the facility, the provisional care for the inmate is reviewed by the prison clinicians (Ellis, 2008). Non-provisional care is assigned depending on the needs of the inmate, which takes into consideration the ability to function without assistance from another (Ellis, 2008). Provision of medical care to inmates also varies depending sentence or status of the case. Thus, inmates whose sentence has not been read, those with sentence below 12 months, or pre-trial inmates are not eligible to â€Å"medically appropriate-not always necessary† health service, â€Å"limited medical value,† as well as â€Å"extraordinary† service (Ellis, 2008, p. 44). Some categories of illnesses such as cancer, HIV, diabetes, etc. may also