Based on the series inside the worlds toughest prisons - the host Raphael Rowe (a former inmate who was proved innocent) travels the world and spends a few nights in various maximum security prisons as both a prisoner and guard. The idea behind the series is that Raphael is locked up and treated like a "real" prisoner for a few days and after a few nights he switches sides and becomes a prison guard. This allows him to ask pressing questions to both inmates and guards that reveal the "true nature" of what really is going on inside that particular prison.
This show is very informative as it provides viewers with a more realistic conception of what prison is actually like, sometimes challenging many assumptions viewers had about prisons before watching the show.
Despite the differences in the various prison systems all around the world - two similar themes re-occur. These themes are as follows:
Should prisoners be punished or helped/guided?
How much contact or involvement is required by prison guards?
Based on these two streams of thought I have formulated a theory of what combination works best and why. Before the theory is discussed it is important to keep in mind why prisons exist in the first place and what goals a country wishes to achieve by locking people up in prison.
It is safe to say that any prison in any country has the following ideals which gave rise to the following goals:
Criminals are toxic for society and should be separated from the general public. GOAL = Lock up prisoners and possibly punish them for their wrong doings.
As long as criminals have a dangerous mindset they cannot be released back into society. GOAL = Lock up prisoners for an indefinite period of time until they change their ways.
The goals created from these ideals are problematic and incompatible. Furthermore, it raises more questions than solutions. For example, does punishment change the mindset of an offender? Are criminals really as dangerous for society as stereotypes go? How do you know when a criminal has had a change of heart/mind? Should countries keep building more prisons to accommodate the ever growing amount of inmates?
It is obvious that when a closer look is taken at the existing prison systems many flaws are waiting to be discovered some which are not that obvious from face value.
Coming back to my theory I have assessed all the prisons that were visited by Raphael Rowe (see list below) and discovered the following two patterns.
punishment or rehabilitation? Some countries put more emphasize on punishing inmates as atonement for their sins. This is a pattern found mainly in third world countries where the budget for prisons are extremely low. In contrast, some countries put more emphasis on educating and rehabilitating inmates in an attempt to change their mindset. This pattern can be seen more often in first world countries that have a lot more funds allocated to prisons.
More or less prison guard involvement? irrespective of country budget or status, some prisons encourage guards to be more involved in prisoner affairs, while shockingly some prisons rely almost completely on the prisoners to sort things out amongst themselves. This second point is also dependent on the guard-prisoner ratio, but even still, it does not always have to be the case.
From the two above mentioned themes - 4 combinations are possible:
Punishment & little guard involvement
Punishment & lots of guard involvement
Rehabilitate & little guard involvement
Rehabilitate & lots of guard involvement
Based on the 18 countries visited during the 5 seasons of inside the worlds toughest prisons. I have placed each country in a quadrant.
How to assess which combination is the most effective?
Whether or not a countries methods for dealing with prisoners are successful is indicated by the recidivism rates (the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend) and not by the crime rates of a country. This is because a countries crime rates are independent of whether or not a prison method is successful as many criminals have not yet been exposed to prison rehabilitation. However, re-offenders have already experienced what prison is like and if they re-offend it shows that they have not changed their ways. Hence, recidivism rates are the best way to assess whether or not prisons are successful in changing criminals for the better.
Countries visited during the series Inside the worlds toughest prison (Season 1 - 5) and latest known recidivism rates.
In conclusion. Greenland, Belize, and Norway seem to have the lowest rates of recidivism. Although punishment is extremely low in Greenland and Norway, punishment in Belize is extremely severe. However, all 3 countries seem to have a relatively high rating of guard involvement and do not leave the prisoners to shape their own lives while in prisons.
Clearly, prisoners need prison guard involvement and prisoners should not be allowed to coordinate prison routines on their own. In contrast, punishment and rehabilitation both have their advantages and probably works best depending on a counties culture and norms.
It would be interesting to see if this trend get's noticed and incorporated by prison systems around the world.
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