Prison break: what drives some prisoners to try to escape? are any successful?

How should society combat this?

Prison break: what drives some prisoners to try to escape? are any successful? How should

society combat this?

Chinmaya Gowda Nanjundaiah

Vancouver Island University

568785851

Sandra Hagan

English 115
Prison break: what drives some prisoners to try to escape? are any successful? How should society combat this?

Content

1.Introduction

2.Prison conditions & Incarceration of Prisoners

3.Prison break incidents

4.Rehabilitation method

4.1. cognitive behavioral treatment

4.1.1. Three key components implemented by cognitive behavioral treatment

4.2. Mentally disordered offenders

4.3. Substance abuse treatments

4.3.1. Harm Reduction

4.3.2. Psycho-educational Programs

4.3.3. Therapeutic programs

4.3.4. Prison -based therapeutic communities

5. The restorative justice system

5.1. Three methods of restorative justice system

5.1.1. Family group Conferencing

5.1.2. Peacemaking circles

5.1.3. Victim-offender mediation

6. Conclusion
Prison break: what drives some prisoners to try to escape? are any successful? How should society combat this?

Prison break: what drives some prisoners to try to escape? are any successful? How should

society combat this?

1.Introduction

Crime is often discussed in our society, everyone is concerned about it, and everyone

talks about it. Every morning I get up and go to my class and hear my professors so passionately

lecturing about crime and how to deal with it in a humanitarian approach, and on the other side, I

hear people saying how we need to make our prisons more brutal and implement more brutal

techniques to torture the prisoners. Most of the society think that criminals are born evil and

enjoy being criminals, but unfortunately, it is not true and to prove it's not true criminologist all

around the word have scientific research and evidence on what they are saying.

According to the research, when a prisoner is locked up in prisons for years together, he

is physiologically affected, and this is not going to make him a better person after he is let out of

the prison. In fact, the rate of recidivism is higher of the prisoners who are just incarcerated. This

physiological torture is one of the main reasons why prisoners try to escape from the prisons and

apart from that many prisons are overcrowded, not hygienic and lacks proper basic, and also;

there are various other outside factors which also motivates the prisoners to escape from their

prisons. In this paper, I will highlight a few incidents of prison escapes and talk about the living

conditions of prisoner’s which can lead to a prison break. I will also talk about what other

alternatives which can be used instead of just Incarceration, which is an ineffective and an

expensive method which is being used by the correctional system. These alternative methods are

already being implemented in many western countries including Canada, which is helping in

bringing down the recidivism rates rehabilitation method and restorative justice system which
Prison break: what drives some prisoners to try to escape? are any successful? How should society combat this?

can be a solution to prison breaks and also help the prisoners in becoming a better people in life

(Rossner & Bruce, 2016).

2.Prison conditions & Incarceration of Prisoners

Most of the prisons around the world are overcrowded and have become dangerous.

Drugs and sexual assaults and disease have become common in the prisons. Because of the

overcrowding of prisons, prisoners hardly get proper space to sleep in prisons in many countries

(Gorta & Sillavant ,1991).

Incarceration is punishing the offender by locking them up in the prison for years or

months depending on the offense which they have committed. This system believes in removing

the offender from the community and punishing them severely. Incarceration is locking up the

offender for life or 25 years in the case of murder, and the punishment varies from country to

country. These methods of punishment believe that the best way to reduce crime in society is to

punish the offender harshly so that this scares the offender and sets an example for others in the

society (Gorta & Sillavant, 1991)

Just locking up people inside the prisons, this can have a huge physiological impact on

the prisoners. The USA is leading by imprisoning more than 2.4 million offenders in the world.

(Gorta & Sillavant,1991)

Prison escapes create fear among the ordinary people, and the media implant most of this

fear. All most all prisons break are nonviolent and very few incidents showcase some violence.

Prison escapes can be caused by the inside conditions of the prisons and also depends on the

outside factor. So it's hard to say exactly what factors has made the prisoner escape the prison.

And unfortunately according to Culp there is not much data available in the USA as his research

is heavily based on the USA prisons. According to Culp in the years between 1996 and 1997
Prison break: what drives some prisoners to try to escape? are any successful? How should society combat this?

prisons, escapes are about 5,743 among 42 states of USA. But talking about the 20th century

there is an overall decrease in the prison escapes because of the increase of the security level of

the prisons, aging of the prisoners, decrease in the proportion of property offenders. But still

terrible prison conditions and the outside factors still makes prison escape and here are some

recent prison escapes (Culp, 2005).

3.Prison break incidents

• Matt, who was severing his person time of 25 years in the Clinton Correctional

Facility in Dannemora, he was sentenced to life for kidnapping, robbing and killing William

Rickerson in 1997 escaped from a maximum-security prison on June 8, 2015. (Bacon, 2015).

• Sweat who was serving a life sentence in the Clinton Correctional Facility in

Dannemora for killing also escaped from a maximum-security prison on June 8, 2015 (Bacon,

2015).

• According to Toppo “In the five-year span between 2009 and 2013, just one inmate

escaped from a maximum-security prison in New York. Nine escaped from state medium-

security facilities in that period. Authorities recaptured all 10 within a day, state officials said.

Prison officials have far more trouble with inmate suicides and violence directed at prison staff,

statistics show. In 2013 alone, New York prisons reported 161 suicide attempts and 645 assaults

on staff members” (p.1).

• Joseph Jenkins and Charles Walker, 34 years two men were recaptured in Panama

City, how had escaped from prison in 2001and both were serving a life sentence.

• Richard Larson and Mohammad el-Tabech - are serving life sentences for murder.

• el-Tabech and Vasile Hurbenca, did try to make an escape from Nebraska and el-

Tabech has a 17-year sentence and Hurbenca 45 years (Tysver,2001).

Prison break: what drives some prisoners to try to escape? are any successful? How should society combat this?

• Michael McGuire, who also tried to escape, is now serving 61 to 170 years for

robbery, rape, and kidnapping (Madigan,2013).

• March 21, Todd Cook shot a prison officer and tried to escape, and now he is severing

a life sentence (Madigan,2013, ).

4.Rehabilitation method

Rehabilitation is the process in which the offender is treated in the area in which he

requires help and then reintegrated back to the society. Offenders with mental problems are given

treatment, offenders with drug issues are sent to drug rehab centers and other offenders under a

program called cognitive behavioral therapy are given. The believers of rehabilitation method

strongly disagree with the retribution and Incarceration methods of punishment as they believe

that offenders must be treated and reintegrated back to society as the main reason of their offense

are because of their socio-economic, mental and physical conditions. (Brookins,2014).

4.1. cognitive behavioral treatment

Cognitive behavioral treatments programs believe and argue that a high-risk situation in

few people usually leads them towards forming antisocial thoughts and feelings which make that

person closer to committing a crime or increases his antisocial behavior. So cognitive behavioral

treatment program tries to reduce these antisocial social instincts in high-risk situations (Vaske,

2011).

4.1.1. Three key components implemented by cognitive behavioral treatment

- Cognitive behavioral treatment first identifies high-risk instants, feelings and though

which are possible in a person to lead him towards criminal and anti-social behavior (Vaske,

2011).
Prison break: what drives some prisoners to try to escape? are any successful? How should society combat this?

- Cognitive behavioral treatment tries to help the offenders in replacing their

criminogenic thoughts with positive thoughts (Vaske, 2011).

- Its helps the offenders in creating a problem- solving skills, coping skills and social

skills (Vaske, 2011).

4.2. Mentally disordered offenders

Mentally disordered offenders are offenders who just does not need treatment for the

mental illness, but they also need interventions which will help them not to reoffended again.

According to research studies does prove that cognitive skills programs do help mentally

disordered offenders, especially with the Reasoning and Rehabilitation program and the results

of these so far, are positive and very promising. Reasoning and Rehabilitation program mainly

focus on helping the offenders in developing problem-solving skills along with a positive social

behavior. This Reasoning and Rehabilitation consists of 35 to 36 two hour sessions held every

twice or thrice a week. The workshops are strictly monitored by the facilitator especially the

punctuality and the attendance of the offenders (Cullen, 2011).

4.3. Substance abuse treatments

It is tough to come to a conclusion whether if crime cause drug usage or drug usage

causes crime. But according to Casey First, “that a direct causal relationship exists whereby

illicit substance lead to offending”, second, “that there is an indirect relationship produced by

one or more shared variables”, Third “that there is no causal relationship but, rather, a

relationship exists solely on the basis that each behavior represents unique aspects of a broader

deviant lifestyle” (p.361). The majority of prisoners in the jails of USA are convicted of drug

smuggling or usage. According to Casey, there are four types of approaches to treating

substances misuse in prison populations (Casey, 2013).

Prison break: what drives some prisoners to try to escape? are any successful? How should society combat this?

4.3.1. Harm Reduction

These are programs tries in spreading awareness and the risks of overdoses of drugs

and blood transmission diseases caused by drugs and unsafe and unhygienic method of usage of

drugs. Harm reduction programs believe in providing clean syringes and pipes to drug addicts to

prevent from sharing used syringes and pipes which will also prevent of spreading of diseases

from one person to other (Casey, 2013).

4.3.2. Psycho-educational Programs

Psycho-educational Programs tries to motivate the drug addicts to join the intensive

programs by making them understanding the link between substance use and offending (Casey,

2013).

4.3.3. Therapeutic programs

According to Casey therapeutic programs are higher intensity programs which involve

group participation treatment programs which cover issues of “understanding substance use and

offending, developing mechanisms to cope with craving and withdrawal, developing alternative

behaviors, managing emotions, enhancing problem-solving and communication, and developing

relapse preventions plans” (p.362).

4.3.4. Prison -based therapeutic communities

This is one of the most intensive of all the programs where the participants are

separated from the prison and its culture and are directed and immersed towards a dedicated

therapeutic environment (Casey, 2013).

5. The restorative justice system

The restorative justice system is a philosophy and a humanitarian approach to crime it

believes in helping and healing both the offender and the victims and then reintegrating the
Prison break: what drives some prisoners to try to escape? are any successful? How should society combat this?

victims back to the society with the involvement of the community. In Restorative justice system

it considers the offense first as a violation of people's rights not just the violation of the law of

the state or country, and this is the most distinct aspect of the restorative justice system, and this

is not found in other correctional systems.

Restorative justice system uses three types of dialogue programs in its process of dealing

with crime. Victim-offender mediation, family group, conferencing, and peacemaking circles are

three processes of the restorative justice system. All these three systems are based on the same

principles with a slightly different process. According to Rossner all these methods involve

victim and offender dialogues and by this they try to achieve and has “increased victim

satisfaction, offender satisfaction, offender satisfaction, offender accountability, increased

perceptions of fairness of the process, more/better reparation of the harm caused by the offence,

healing, empowerment, ability to tailor the process to the community’s needs, and the transfer of

ownership of the harm from the state to the victim.”(p.28) Apart from these offenders who have

undergone restorative justice system do have a lower recidivism rate according to the research.

( Rossner,2008)

5.1. Three methods of restorative justice system

5.1.1. Family group Conferencing

This is also called as community conferencing; it tries to get the youth away from the

formal adjudication.it is mostly based on the traditions of the indigenous people of the Maoris of

the New Zealand. This method now has become policy in the Australian judicial system; the

Australian police brings the juvenile and its family along with the victim and the victim’s family

together, this helps the offender understand the impact which he or she has created on the victim.
Prison break: what drives some prisoners to try to escape? are any successful? How should society combat this?

Then the conference helps the victim to move towards forgiveness of the offender and then lets

the community resolve on how to fix the issue. (Camp& Wemmers, 2013)

5.1.2. Peacemaking circles

Peacemaking circles are based on the principles of traditional moral values which are

applied held in the process of dialogue for relationship building of the offender and the victim.

This is also called as sentencing circles and is used in the aboriginal community of Canada.

Research does say that this process does recidivism rates and also empowers the indigenous

communities in Canada. (Camp& Wemmers, 2013)

5.1.3. Victim-offender mediation

Victim-offender mediation is the most established out of all these methods, with more

than 1300 VOM programs in 18 countries. VOM highly focus on face to face dialogues between

the victims and the offender and is moderated by the community. In this process, the victim is

free to share his feeling about how he or she was affected by the crime and also allowed to

receive any information from the offender related to the offense. The offender also gets the

chance to express himself to the victim, and the community members mediate all this. The

mediators are only supposed to see that the dialogue between the victims and the offenders goes

correctly, and there are expected to stay neutral in the process. The mediators also play a role in

emotionally preparing both the victim and offenders for the mediation. According to the research

80-90% of people who participated are satisfied with the process of victim-offender mediation in

the restorative justice system. And at the end of the process if the victim is satisfied and wishes

then he can pardon the offender and let him free. (Camp& Wemmers, 2013)
Prison break: what drives some prisoners to try to escape? are any successful? How should society combat this?

6. Conclusion

There is clear evidence that just locking up prisons is just wasting money and is not

reducing the recidivism rates of the prisoners. Terrible prison conditions are a primary factor of

prisons escape along with other outside factors of the offender. So it is really important to heal

and repair the offenders instead of just punishing him. As one or the other day, the prisoner is let

back to the community and just locking him would make him more violent and it does not

benefit the community. So it is the responsibility of the society to realize this and understand and

support humanitarian incentives like restorative justice system and rehabilitation system

(Culp,2005). Writing this last part of my paper reminds me a quote from Mathma Gandhi -

“Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love.

Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from

fear of punishment”. Although this quote of Gandhi is in an entirely different context from the

topic of this paper, I feel replacing the word ‘power’ from the above quote with the word ‘justice’

would make that quote totally in context to this paper.

Prison break: what drives some prisoners to try to escape? are any successful? How should society combat this?

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