by Deborah Coshun

Created on: March 22, 2010

Prisoners loss of rights!  A touchy issue for a lot of people.  If you're the victim of a criminal, your tendency is to want the loss of all rights and severe punishment.  How else will the prisoner learn not to break the law? 

I have been the victim and I have been friends of people that have found themselves behind bars.  The outlook is different for both situations but ultimately after time I have come to find that our current system does NOT work and a change is needed.

It seems that the population group of our prison system for the most part are repeat offenders.  What does this tell us about the system?  The system isn't working.  To take away voting rights is taking away a positive influence that is needed for the inmates.  If the prisoner is being allowed to vote then that means that he is being made aware of the influences around him other than crime.  It is hopeful by voting that he will read about the candidates and the issues thus giving him a focus on issues other than his inmates criminal history.

More focus on keeping the inmates attention on positive issues and the right way to do things is needed in the prison system.  It is therefore my belief that taking away the fundamental right of every citizen (good or bad ones) to vote is not aiding in his rehabilitation but furthering his return to criminal environment that he left.  Taking away voting rights serves no purpose in punishment of a criminal behind bars other than to further separate him from the process of normal living.

The prison system varies from prison to prison.  There is no consistency in the penal institutions other than continuation of criminal activities via gang activities etc, etc..  The scenario seems to be treat them all equal when in fact that is no more realistic in prison than in real life outside the prison.  You have prisoners that committed such heinous crimes that they deserve nothing but contempt and then you have those that made a crucial misstep in their life and need help turning their lives around.  Face it, these guys are going to be released at some point and I would feel much better if I thought they were closer to finding a better way to conduct themselves upon release than when they entered the prison system.  Fact is that most of them will return to the same life style as they left because they have no better way of dealing with life upon reentering it than they did

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