Title: Do Prisons Really Make Offenders Worse? | Psychology Today
Headings: Do Prisons Really Make Offenders Worse?
Stanton E. Samenow Ph.D.
Do Prisons Really Make Offenders Worse?
Prison may be a turning point toward a responsible future.

Content: Do Prisons Really Make Offenders Worse? | Psychology Today
Stanton E. Samenow Ph.D.
Inside the Criminal Mind
Do Prisons Really Make Offenders Worse? Prison may be a turning point toward a responsible future. Posted Apr 09, 2011
SHARE
TWEET
EMAIL
COMMENTS
Prison have long been described as "schools for crime " or "breeding grounds for crime." The central idea is that incarcerating offenders makes them worse because they learn new "tricks of the trade." There is an inevitability to the perception that if you land in prison, you will turn into an even more corrupt or violent person when you leave. Among prison inmates, the main topics of conversations in prison generally concern crime, drugs, and gossip about who will do what and to whom. Inmates boast about what they have done, and they hatch new schemes. Some commit crimes while incarcerated and plan new crimes that they will commit once they are released. Some engineer crimes that, upon their orders, others will commit outside the institution.