Can I Get a Little Respect Here?

When dealing with corrections there are many opinions on how prisoners should be treated. But the majority of opinions fall into two categories: Those who see prisoners as people of value who made bad choices but still have the capacity for positive change, and those who see prisoners as worthless specimens of humanity that should be kept away from society at all costs. This latter category believes that prisoners are either incapable of positive change or they do not deserve the opportunity to change.

These positions are sometimes framed as those who believe criminals are sent to prisoner AS punishment and those who believe criminals are sent to prison FOR punishment. Where one stands on these ideologies has a big impact on their day-to-day treatment of prisoners and on their philosophy of how prisoners are rehabilitated.

Just the other day I had an officer yell at me and lecture me for several minutes simply because I respectfully asked a clarifying question. Two days later I saw another officer cuss out a friend of mine, calling him a "whining f'n b___" simply because the officer was wrong for telling this prisoner he couldn't wear a shirt that the prison had issued him.

These are simple examples of the dehumanizing treatment those who see no value in prisoners use on a day-to-day basis.

Others, like the Warden of this prison, see value in each person. Warden Burton is trying to show the State of Michigan that treating prisoners as people who can bring value to their communities will lower re-offense rates and violence within prison. He recognizes that prisoners who are treated as valuable begin to see themselves that way. But not everyone agrees with his philosophy. 

Psychiatrist James Gilligan ran experimental therapeutic communities within Massachusetts' prisons in the 1980s. He didn't do anything more radical than treat each prisoner with respect and allow them a safe place to express their fears and hopes. He saw tremendous results including the transformation of a serial killer who killed people even in prison into a compassionate and peaceful person. In the early 1990s Gilligan even started an educational program led by Harvard lecturers. But when a new governor (William Weld) was elected, Gilligan's therapeutic communities were shut down. Governor Weld saw prisoners as worthless human specimens, not as humans with potential.

Some people would argue that the criminals in prison didn't treat their victims with dignity, so why should the State treat them with dignity. It's a fair point, but one that ignores mountains of research data showing that giving broken people (like prisoners) hope for their future results in lower re-offense rates. It ignores the question of why people commit crime in the first place.

I'm hopeful that this time innovators like Warden Burton won't be replaced and the evidence that respect works won't be ignored. Those in society who expect prisoners to return to their communities to be safe deserve better.

* (The story of James Gilligan comes from "So You've Been Publicly Shamed" by Jon Ronson, pages 251-253)