The United States has about 5% of the world's population, yet has a quarter of all the world's
prisoners, with roughly one in every 107 American adults behind bars.
With a crackdown on the war on drugs leading to harsh prison sentences, as well as no-tolerance
policing, the American public has to ask itself if punishment is really working as intended?
Well, while the two nations share vastly different demographics and thus different challenges,
it doesn't take a hard look at some of Sweden's prison policies and practices to see that
perhaps, there's a better way for the US to handle its prison populations.
America's prison population has been growing exponentially since after the second World
War, yet it wasn't until the crack epidemic of the 1980s and the ensuing 'war on drugs'
that the US prison population really boomed.
Federal and state legislation was quickly passed which dictated mandatory minimum sentences
for any drug related crime, all in a bid to make crime so unattractive that the harsh
punishments would deter would-be criminals.
Sadly, this seemed to have little effect, and all that US legislature really did was
create a situation where first-time offenders were swept up into the main prison population
and left there for years.
This hardened the inmate's resolve and wisened them up criminally- prison very quickly became
known as crime university, because inexperienced first time offenders would be sentenced to
years and leave better able to commit the crimes they were originally sentenced for,
mentored for years by the more experienced inmates.
To make matters worse, American prisons have historically offered few opportunities for
rehabilitation, or ways for inmates to better themselves and lay the foundation for a different
type of life once back on the outside.
By comparison though in Sweden public attitudes towards criminals are as hard as those in
America, Swedish lawmakers have taken a far more humane approach to the treatment of prisoners.
In Sweden the collective view is that while crime must be punished, the individuals who
commit these crimes will one day be rejoining society, and thus prison represents less a
tool for punishment, and more a chance to reform an individual while removed from the
general population.
Treating prisoners humanely is one of the first steps towards rehabilitation for the
Swedish.
In the US many prisons run over capacity, and overall the US is 103.9% over capacity.
This leads to at times as many as four prisoners sharing a cell, and with many prison systems
across American states running over budget, the problem only gets worse as parts of prisons
or even entire prisons are closed in a bid to save money.
This leads to further overcrowding, which can directly affect the health and comfort
of prisoners, which in turn leads to prisoner-on-prisoner violence and even riots.
In the US prisoner-on-prisoner violence is fairly common, yet in Sweden it is extremely
rare.
Even more rare are prison riots in Sweden.
Perhaps that's because by comparison the Swedes focus on housing prisoners in what they consider
humane conditions, which means affording each prisoner a level of comfort and safety by
not exceeding crowd capacity.
The fact that the Swedish prison population has dropped from 5,722 prisoners to 4,500
over the last ten years has helped not just with crowding issues, but with budget issues
as wings of prisons or even entire prisons are closed down for a lack of need.
There is also a general difference in the attitude of what prison is between the US
and Sweden, with the US and its harsh sentencing guidelines- specially mandatory minimum for
drug offenses- leading to a 'prison as a first resort' mentality.
In Sweden prison is seen as a last resort, and the Swedish penal code actually tries
to avoid prison terms when it can.
Per Swedish guidelines offenders must present an active threat to the general public if
they are to qualify for prison time, as opposed to programs such as mandatory counseling,
community service, or perhaps house arrest.
Per the Swedish mentality, some people must be incarcerated, but even if they are then
it should be the goal of the state to release them back out into society in a better shape
than when they first entered.
Compare that to the US, which is firmly entrenched in a punishment mentality, with prisons slashing
work-release, education, and job-skills programs.
Some prisons have even forbidden inmates from being sent books by those on the outside,
and restrict what reading materials inmates may order for themselves.
A key focus of the swedish prison system is in seeing prisoners as individuals with psychological
needs that need to be carefully attended to.
Crime is not just an act in sweden, but a consequence of an underlying social or psychological
problem, and the prison system sees it as its responsibility to address these problems
if it can.
When you are considering the fact that these individuals will one day be released back
into society as a whole, as the Swedish consider, then it makes perfect sense that prison shouldn't
be about punishment, but about rehabilitation and treatment.
To this end, Swedish prison guards fulfill both security roles and rehabilitative roles,
and each prisoner has a “contact officer” whom monitors the inmate's progress towards
their eventual return to society.
This helps prisoners see guards not just as, well guards, but also as individuals who are
trying to help prisoners live better lives once back on the outside.
Compare that to the US, where 10 times more people with mental health issues are housed
in prisons than in mental health hospitals.
These people receive no treatment for their psychological problems, and instead must cope
with them on their own with only occasional and very brief visits to a counselor if the
budget affords it.
Untreated mental health issues not only lead to violence while in prison, but can grow
exponentially worse in the highly stressful environment of a prison and cripple an individual
for life, severely limiting their ability to function outside of prison.
In the US, crime is exactly that: just an activity, and no concern is paid for the economic
or psychological motivations for that crime.
Rather than try to address the root of a criminal problem, the US has for decades simply taken
a weed whacker to the problem and left the roots in fertile soil, ready to regrow again.
The focus in the US is on punishing people for their wrongs, either out of a sense of
vengeance or under the false illusion that harsh punishments will work to deter crime-
despite the fact that study after study has proven that this is a false conclusion.
There is little to no concern placed on the fact that prisoners will one day return to
society, and attempts to rehabilitate prisoners while there's a chance to are all but non-existent.
Some prisons do offer job skills training and educational courses, but for the majority
of American prisons inmates are seen as tenants and little more.
Prison guards fulfill one and only one duty in the US, and that's to keep inmates in line
and punish offenders.
Rather than build a protectorate relationship with inmates, prison guards in the US are
billed solely as tools of punishment by a penal system that cares little for the individual.
This is likely why incidence of violence against prison guards is so high in the US, and so
low in Sweden.
One of the most controversial practices of the Swedish prison system however is the use
of low-security 'open' prisons, which are in many ways, exactly what they sound like.
Here prisoners live in housing that resembles a dorm, and have free access to tvs and other
forms of entertainment.
Individuals are also allowed to commute to a job and even visit families, all the while
being electronically monitored.
Prison staff and prisoners all eat together in community spaces, and the inmates do not
wear uniforms.
Per the swedish, this open prison system is more effective than closed prisons in reducing
recidivism- or the rate at which freed prisoners repeat offenses and are re-jailed.
Inmates have strict curfews to follow and have many rules imposed on them and their
behavior.
Their trips outside of the prison are closely monitored, and inmates know that they are
always just one infraction away from being sent to a regular 'closed' prison.
Yet the swedes contend that by treating prisoners ethically and fairly, even grating them a
degree of autonomy, they are far less likely to recommit an offense once released.
The focus is once more on human treatment and correcting bad behavior, as well as building
a prisoner's chances for a successful life outside of prison.
This might sound naive to American prison officials, and yet the numbers don't lie.
Sweden not only has a shrinking prison population while the US's is growing, but its recidivism
rate is at 29% after three years.
The US meanwhile has a recidivism rate of 67.8% after three years.
Clearly a focus on treating prisoners humanely and treating psychological and other issues
while building life skills is working to make Sweden a safer place, and are things that
the United States could learn from.
Do you think prison should be about punishment or rehabilitation?
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