Officer's Perspective Three of the

¶ … Officer's Perspective Three of the biggest issues in prison corrections are rehabilitation, reducing recidivism, and behavioral concerns while incarcerated. Of these, rehabilitation tops the list. Those who begin the rehabilitation process while incarcerated have a lower chance of recidivism, as well as have a better behavioral pattern while in prison. Also, those who begin this process within the walls of the correctional facility, they have a lower chance to re-offend, and have a better chance at becoming a positive influence in the community.

Before discussing how to correct the rehabilitation process, there are several issues within rehabilitation that need to be presented. First of all, rehabilitation programs are limited, and often focus on the more common crimes, rather than personal or psychological reasons for why an individual committed a crime. "By the late twentieth century, the United States was reputed to be the world leader in the use of incarceration.

On a single day in 2000, the American crime response complex held 702 person in custody for every 100,000 in the national population," (Ruth & Reitz, 2003, p. 20). While this is an obvious response to the crime dilemma in the United States, less effort has been put into how to rehabilitate the incarcerated. The focus of the rehabilitation programs emphasize the crime itself more than the reason it was committed or the manner in which it was committed.

Each of these reasons should be considered in order for the rehabilitation to have a better chance of success. There are presently a limited amount of human resources who are properly trained to administer the present offered programs. Also, offenders are not often interested in the offered rehabilitation programs. For the most part, rehabilitation programs are optional and a majority of inmates choose not to participate in these programs, or only participate in order to have their sentence reduced. Changes are needed in order to correct these issues.

There are already generalized programs instated in each institution, however, specific rehabilitation programs are needed in order to focus on the needs of each individual. For example, I interviewed an officer at a correctional institution within the state of Indiana, who gave the example that there is a program for Sexual Offenders that is called, "sexual deviants," but not all sexual crimes are considered deviant.

"Deviant behavior is behavior that departs from social norms included within the broad spectrum of deviant acts are behaviors ranging from violent crimes to joining a nudist colony. Crime and deviants are often confused because not all crimes are deviant or unusual acts, and not all deviant acts are illegal or criminal," (Siegel, 2007, 5). This being one example, rehabilitation programs focus on the generalized behaviors or crimes of the inmates rather than on the specificity of the actions of their particular crimes.

The change that is needed, therefore, is programs that focus on specific behaviors rather than a generalized category of which the crime falls into. As noted earlier, one of the problems was also that human resources are limited. Either the individuals offering the programs need to be trained to handle the specificity of each case, or additional individuals are needed in order to be able to handle such cases. "A maximally effective approach to crime avoidance calls for programs that can supplement the deterrent and incapacitative effects of confinement.

A diversified crime-reduction strategy should include effective 'helping' programs," (Ruth & Reitz, 110). One of the programs that needs to be better considered is the partnership of prisons with other community resources such as churches, mosques, synagogues, substance abuse centers, centers for mental health, community corrections, counseling agencies, and other organizations that could provide assistance for such individuals. In these partnerships, the helping environment would be created through inmates and community leaders forming partnerships. This would help the incarcerated become connected to their community. Jacobson (2005, p.

131) states that, "Almost everyone who goes to prison comes out of prison. In fact, except for the 5% who are sentenced to life without parole, executed, or die of natural causes, 95% of all prison admission are released and 80% are released to parole or some kind of after-prison supervision." This high percentage proves the need for a community connection once released. However, if inmates do not have a valuation for the rehabilitation program or understand the long-term need or connection, they will often not choose to attend such programs.

A main reason inmates do not attend these programs or receive the full benefit from the rehabilitation services is because they do not focus on their individual issues, crimes, or development. If such programs or people were offered, more of the prison population would attend these resources in order to develop a better adjustment back into society. One option that needs to be considered is college programs for inmates who qualify.

Horn (2001, p 36) states, "Achievement of a college degree, willing performance of assigned duties, or speculative progress toward 'self-realization' and internalization of.