Maya Schenwar, in her talk titled, “Beyond Reform: Abolishing Prison” speaks of the prison system, especially here in 21st century America, as something that is outdated and in need of abolishment. As opposed to mere reform of the prison system, for which there are many present day advocates, Maya Schenwar goes one step further in calling for a society that completely abolishes the prison apparatus as opposed to merely taking steps to improve the conditions of the prisoners, prisons and/or the overall legal system. Through the plight of the prisoner, subjected to deplorable conditions at the hand of the modern-day legal system, Maya Schenwar attempts to envision a society that is free of cages.
At the heart of her talk, lies her stance on …show more content…
This is further indicative of the fact that people are recognizing the need for a change with regards to the current prison system. However, for the most part, people are of the opinion that the need of the day is only that of a reform. That, by changing the current system of caging, the system in place will indeed serve its intended purpose of acting like a correctional system. Maya points out, however, that prisons aren’t quite serving their purpose of being correctional institutions, as evidenced by reality. The fact that ex-criminals, to the amount of 2 in every 3, wind up back in prison, is indicative of just that. Such a process is rather cyclical, and far from correctional, owing to a variety of causes, but primarily due to the circumstances that those caged up are faced with in prisons. The fundamental flaw, lies in the fact that locking up a criminal, regardless of the crime committed, is somehow supposed to rectify such a behavior. Furthermore, prisoners upon release are devoid of means of rehabilitation, and in fact, due to the circumstances arising out of being branded a felon, are devoid of opportunities of pursuing and leading a normal life, ultimately culminating in exhibiting criminal like behavior once again. Only to be further complicated by the fact that they are socially cut-off from friends and family, making them more prone to criminal like behavior. Ultimately, Maya is of the opinion that it is only hurt people, that hurt people. Being victims of violence themselves at some point, these criminals are driven to violence themselves, in the form of violence breeding violence. The prison system here, again, is found wanting, in that it does nothing to remedy such a
At the heart of her talk, lies her stance on …show more content…
This is further indicative of the fact that people are recognizing the need for a change with regards to the current prison system. However, for the most part, people are of the opinion that the need of the day is only that of a reform. That, by changing the current system of caging, the system in place will indeed serve its intended purpose of acting like a correctional system. Maya points out, however, that prisons aren’t quite serving their purpose of being correctional institutions, as evidenced by reality. The fact that ex-criminals, to the amount of 2 in every 3, wind up back in prison, is indicative of just that. Such a process is rather cyclical, and far from correctional, owing to a variety of causes, but primarily due to the circumstances that those caged up are faced with in prisons. The fundamental flaw, lies in the fact that locking up a criminal, regardless of the crime committed, is somehow supposed to rectify such a behavior. Furthermore, prisoners upon release are devoid of means of rehabilitation, and in fact, due to the circumstances arising out of being branded a felon, are devoid of opportunities of pursuing and leading a normal life, ultimately culminating in exhibiting criminal like behavior once again. Only to be further complicated by the fact that they are socially cut-off from friends and family, making them more prone to criminal like behavior. Ultimately, Maya is of the opinion that it is only hurt people, that hurt people. Being victims of violence themselves at some point, these criminals are driven to violence themselves, in the form of violence breeding violence. The prison system here, again, is found wanting, in that it does nothing to remedy such a