If prisons are simply places for criminals to wait out their sentence, if prisoners are allowed to behave like thugs, or are treated like animals, they will come out worse than when they went in. The purpose of prison is to punish and reform. To be reformed, they must learn the error of their ways, achieve self-esteem, learn self-discipline, and gain financial independence before they leave jail.
Prisons should be privately run with reform programs approved by the state. Operators should be rewarded according to recidivism levels and other qualitative outcomes. This will encourage constant innovation and enhancement of programs. Video and audio recordings should monitor every square inch of a prison, at all times. The data should be available on the Internet.
The following is a model for a well-run prison reformation program:
Work
All prisoners should support themselves through remote work done on a computer inside their cell. The money earned should be used to pay for their accommodation, tuition, power bills, healthcare, groceries, clothes, etc., and to reimburse the victims compensation fund. Any surplus should be passed on to the prisoner’s dependants and/or saved.
Routine
Prisoners should be made to adhere to a strict routine. They should get up at 5:00 am and work, study, clean, exercise or eat for their entire waking hours. The only recreation or relaxation they should enjoy is for half a day on Sundays, when they are allowed to watch approved educational television programs or read approved books.
Accommodation
Prisoners should live in cells that internally resemble a small apartment—with carpet, wardrobes, a bedroom, living room, ironing board, laundry with washing machine and dryer, kitchen, dishwasher and bathroom. This will help them become accustomed to living in a civilized manner.
Prisoners should be kept under 24-hour audio and video surveillance. For this purpose they should be obliged to wear a microphone and every corner of their cell should be videoed from multiple angles. The video should be hooked into pattern recognition software so a computer can punish deviations from the rules and reward good behavior. For example, if a prisoner does not clean up his kitchen after making a meal, he can be given a small electric shock. If he scores a perfect score on his daily test he can be allowed 15 minutes on the couch reading before he retires for the evening.
Prisoners should be made to wash and iron their own laundry, polish their shoes, and keep their clothes and linen meticulously folded and pants sharply creased. This will help ingrain good habits for life on the outside.
Prisoners should be subject to constant automated inspection of their cells. If all cells are identical, then software can be developed that uses lasers and optics to scan every square inch for transgressions; for example, the bed may not have been made squarely, the prisoner’s exercise shoes might be stored in the wrong cupboard, or the kitchen bench may have been improperly wiped down. The computer can then explain to the prisoner what he did wrong and punish him accordingly. The program’s parameters should be known and made available to the prisoner. The prisoner will soon realize that he is the only variable in his daily existence and will therefore strive to modify his behavior to avoid punishment.
Prisoners should spend their entire sentence inside their own sound-proofed cell. By keeping prisoners in their own cells, the variables are reduced so they can be supervised by computers. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer and helps the criminal justice system become self-supporting. Moreover this segregation of prisoners will stop them from stabbing, raping and assaulting each other, and from dealing drugs, forming gangs, exchanging criminal techniques, planning future crimes, and rioting.
Each cell should have a small gym so there is no need for an exercise yard. The exercise machines should be linked to the computer to ensure the prisoner exercises at the scheduled times, and gets his heart rate up to the desired level, etc. Prisoners should be required to do high repetition exercises—heavy weights only encourage a thuggish mentality.
Each cell should have a small gym so there is no need for an exercise yard. The exercise machines should be linked to the computer to ensure the prisoner exercises at the scheduled times, and gets his heart rate up to the desired level, etc. Prisoners should be required to do high repetition exercises—heavy weights only encourage a thuggish mentality.
The prisoners should never see or hear their guards. This will mean the guards will not be daily confronted with manipulation or recalcitrance, or be forced to be brutal. It will enhance the dignity of the prisoners as they will not be subject to the daily rule of other human beings. Within their cells and within the parameters of the rule of law (the reformation program), they will have dignity.
Prisoners should prepare their own regulated meals in their own kitchens. By preparing regular healthy meals they can be ingrained with domestic habits which will stand them in good stead upon release. They should order and pay for their own approved groceries electronically—which should be delivered via a chute.
Each prisoner’s cell should have a small private room adjacent to it with a bullet-proof glass window. Visitors should sit in the room and speak to the prisoner through an intercom. Visitors should not be allowed to give anything to the prisoner. Conversations should be recorded and reviewed by pattern recognition software to see if the inmate has breached any rules. For example, if the prisoner uses an expletive, he should lose recreational time for a month or have his hot water cut off for a week. Visiting prisoners should be like visiting someone in the hospital. Visitors should freely enter the foyer, catch an elevator to the desired floor, and find the room number. However, only immediate family and those who have never been convicted of a felony should be allowed to visit prisoners. Visits should only be allowed as a reward for progress made in the prisoner’s reformation program.
Personal hygiene
All tattoos should be removed upon arrival. Prisoners should wear a suit and tie during working hours. After work and on weekends they should wear neat casual attire, consisting of tailored cotton pants and an ironed open neck shirt. At night they should wear ironed pyjamas. Learning to dress neatly, conservatively, and appropriately will assist them in holding down employment once they are released.
Prisoners should wash and shave daily, and keep their hair short (using hair clippers) and neatly brushed. To ensure they are maintaining proper dental hygiene they should be subject to a daily breath test using a special sensor installed in their cell. By learning to groom themselves to a high standard they will ingrain habits which will help them hold on to jobs and gain social acceptance once they are released.
Prisoners should wash and shave daily, and keep their hair short (using hair clippers) and neatly brushed. To ensure they are maintaining proper dental hygiene they should be subject to a daily breath test using a special sensor installed in their cell. By learning to groom themselves to a high standard they will ingrain habits which will help them hold on to jobs and gain social acceptance once they are released.
Computer access
Prisoners’ lives should revolve around their network console. They should use it for education, for work, to order their groceries, pay their bills, manage their bank accounts, buy books, etc. Internet access should be restricted to approved sites. The console itself should be linked into the reformation program so that all computer activity can be recorded and monitored.
Character reformation
It is the exercise of responsibility which teaches self-discipline. But in the early stages of life it is the experience of authority, when exerted fairly and consistently by adults, which teaches young people how to exercise responsibility themselves. We have to learn to take orders before we learn how to give them. This two-way relationship between obedience and responsibility is what makes a free, self-governing society. And in the breakdown of that relationship we can trace the origins of so much that has gone wrong with Britain. If we can rebuild this relationship, we might begin to restore also respect for law and order, respect for property, and respect for teachers and parents.
—Margaret Thatcher. The Downing Street Years, 1993.
The former military man who leaps out of bed, shines his shoes, goes for a run and gets to work an hour before every one else is the epitome of self-discipline. His self-discipline is born of habit formed in boot camp through enforced discipline. It is the same with children—no child has ever toilet trained themself; instead the child’s parents enforce discipline until the child becomes toilet trained and thus self-disciplined. The problem with criminals is that they lack self-discipline. Prison is an opportunity to apply enforced discipline in a very leveraged, controlled, and repetitious fashion so that it becomes deeply ingrained and eventually becomes self-discipline.
Prisoners should be made to refrain from swearing, using street talk or gang slang. They should be trained to speak in clearly enunciated and grammatically correct English. This can be achieved by the cell being fitted with microphones connected to speech recognition software. Each morning the prisoner should be required to read aloud specially chosen newspaper articles. The computer can then correct his pronunciation and ask him to repeat problem words until he gets them correct.
Prisoners should be punished for breaching rules and directions and failing to do their utmost in their studies and work. Punishments should include:
- Physical punishment (electric shock or microwave pulse);
- Reduced rations;
- Lowered ambient temperature;
- Substitution of bland food for tasty food;
- Cold showers;
- Removal of visitation rights;
- Regression in the program (extending their sentence, loss of accrued privileges).
Prisoners should be rewarded for good behavior. Rewards should include:
- Increases in choice of food;
- Additional visitation rights;
- Advancement through their program (leading to more privileges and earlier release once the retribution portion of their sentence is served).
Education
Prisoners should be educated during their time in jail. The educational program should depend upon the length of their sentence, their intelligence, and pre-existing level of education. It should be wholly run by computer to ensure it has the required intensity and consistency.
Prisoners should be required to read their lessons out loud. This should be followed by multiple-choice exams and typing out passages that the computer can score.
As prisoners experiment by altering their behavior they will learn to be responsible for their own actions. Previously when they violently mugged someone and their victim spent eight months in the hospital and two years in physiotherapy, it was the victim who suffered the consequences for the criminal’s actions. Now in jail, thanks to computer-delivered education and supervision, criminals can be made responsible for even the tiniest aspects of their actions.
Prisoners should be taught the principles of common decency ad nauseam. For example they should be made to watch and answer questions on television programs in which crime victims explain how real-life crime has affected them.
Prisoners should be educated to college degree level in:
- History;
- The criminal code;
- Commercial law;
- Biology;
- Mathematics;
- Geography;
- Government;
- Bookkeeping;
- Personal finances;
- Enunciation;
- Personal hygiene;
- Current affairs;
- Social etiquette;
- Nutrition;
- Cooking.
The lessons should be taken and subjects examined daily so they become ingrained and never forgotten.
Prisoners should be made to acquire advanced skills in:
- Typing, at least 90 words per minute with 95 percent accuracy;
- Word processing;
- Spreadsheets;
- Email.
Prisoners should be taught an advanced vocation that will allow them to make a living by sitting behind a computer at a remote location. Examples of suitable vocations include:
- Software programmer;
- Web publisher;
- Graphic designer;
- Bookkeeper;
- Database administrator;
- Electronic filer;
- Call center operator;
- Parole monitor;
- Telephone software support.
Many prisoners will have below average intellects; however, that should not stop them learning advanced skills so long as they are forced to apply themselves consistently and repetitiously over a long time. The purpose of this training is to give them a vocation whereby they can comfortably pay for their incarceration, reimburse the victim’s compensation fund, and ultimately support themselves once they are released.
Social interaction
Prisoners should not interact with each other except in supervised discussion groups via their computers moderated by ex-felons and special software.
