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: 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. They are termed "shot callers" or gang leaders whose influence reaches beyond prison walls. I have interviewed numerous offenders in different institutions about whether prison truly makes a person worse. Their answers may be surprising! Inmates emphasize that choices are continually made about how time is served. Some aspire to be prison kingpins.