It is easier to punish someone than it is to help them. It’s easier to cast blame than recognize self-fault.
Such has always been the case with the prison system in America. Prisons have continually placed an emphasis on punishment instead of offering support, rehabilitation and correction.
In early March, human rights groups filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Phoenix, claiming Arizona prisons did not provide acceptable mental or medical health care to inmates.
The lawsuit cites several examples of the harsh and deplorable conditions of Arizona prisons. Ferdinand Dix, a prisoner in Tucson, died after his liver swelled to four times its normal size because of cancer. For two years the inmate had requested treatment. The Arizona Republic also cited the example of “a four-months pregnant woman who was told her problems were ‘all in your head’ and was left alone in a cell while she miscarried.”
In another instance, corrections officers refused to provide medical help to an inmate having a heart attack. Another inmate performed CPR, only to be punished later for his actions.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Frederick Martone dismissed a separate lawsuit that similarly claimed Arizona did not provide adequate medical care. The lawsuit, which was filed 18 months ago, was dismissed on a technicality.
These lawsuits not only bring a major human rights violation into focus for Arizonans, they highlight an unacceptable trend in the American correctional system.
Arizona’s Department of Corrections has effectively shown it has no regard for the care or guidance of its inmates. One might assume the Department of Corrections believes inmates deserve punishment, not care or rehabilitation.
Teaching people the proper way to behave and reforming the way people think about situations leads to healthier inmates and less recidivism. There should be a heavier emphasis placed on mental health care and services.
A study done by the Justice Department Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 70 percent of robbers, 74 percent of burglars, 74 percent of larcenists and 78 percent of those arrested for motor vehicle theft are arrested a second time after they are released from prison. What would happen if we used jail time to modify thinking and behavior instead of using it as punishment? Would these numbers be the same?
Additionally, prisons often fail to help inmates learn and market workforce skills. Certainly, these services exist, but often they are under utilized and placed second to the mentality of punishment. It's no wonder released inmates frequently offend a second time.
Medical health care and transitional services such as job counseling are certainly very different arenas. However, if prisoners had more access to both, recidivism would be less of a problem.
Some might argue that prisoners deserve little or no medical services, especially when most Americans are paying for inmates’ care with tax dollars. However, the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Allowing a man’s liver to expand to four times its normal size is certainly cruel and unusual.
What’s happening in Arizona’s prison system is inhumane, shocking and disgraceful. Maltreatment needs to be stopped regardless of how one views the purpose of a prison system.
We can hope, though, that the American prison system will begin to recognize the need for correction, not punishment. Then not only will medical maltreatment dissipate, but recidivism will too.
Reach the columnist at eeeaton@asu.edu
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