Journal 3-6 Max Bardowell 3-3-08

Institutionalized Prisons

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We are a society built upon a system of punishments and rewards, and this fundamental fact can define how we interact both socially and politically far more readily than any other system. It is a reactive system, and thus begins with an action, whether positive or negative, that results in either a punishment or reward depending on the morality of the action itself. For instance, if you rob a bank you will be punished in proportion to your crime, as this follows the system’s protocols. However, if you perform well at work, you will be rewarded with a promotion or simply your monthly salary, as this to follows the standards of the system. It is a fairly basic system and leaves little room for interpretation, but unfortunately this fact could also hold the system’s most grievous flaw: redundancy.

We can become lost in this repetition of punishment and reward, as many parents learn early on as their children quickly become unresponsive to certain levels of punishment. This closed loop system leaves no room for growth and teaching, as the children become adapted to this crime/ punishment system so thoroughly that it becomes an ineffective deterrent. But this problem has evolved and grown far beyond the boundaries of the home. It now infects our penal system. At every level of our penitentiaries we find the phenomenon known as “institutionalized prisons”, where the prisoner knows the prisoner’s life for so long that they rely on the institution to define the structure of their lives. Drug dealers will simply allow themselves to be caught, as they find the punishment they receive is low enough that there is no need to risk their lives to avoid it. Criminals who commit a felony crime serve their time dutifully and then are thrown back to the streets with no job training and no one left to hire them. They turn back to the only thing they know- crime. It is a viscous cycle, nothing but a cruel and unusual punishment existing in broad daylight.

Still, we cannot have murders and criminals loose in society without having paid their debt to the nation, thus the catch- 22 forms; how do you punish an individual enough to influence his conscious decision making process without pushing him to become an institutionalized inmate. The solution begins with the addition of rehabilitation procedures to the penal system, where inmates will receive job training, education, and psychological aid in their recovery. The solution begins when we stop viewing prisoners as “convicts” and begin to see them as people.

Question: What is the origin of the term institutionalized prison?