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Studies conducted recently on ex-convicts released from prison indicates that majority of prisoner after serving their sentence returns to a life of crime. This essay is focused on addressing the reasons and solutions for the problem at hand.
Of all the reasons that could be thought on why this is occurring I have narrowed it down to two major points social stigma and improper rehabilitation. Once a person gets convicted and sent to prison society tends to brand him or her as a social outcast. Once they complete their punishments reintegration to society is proven to be very difficult. Employment opportunities are non-existent and finding an honest living becomes nearer quite impossible, such people find crime more rewarding and helpful for existence rather than going the tedious path to convince people of their atonement. Next reason is improper rehabilitation when they are detainees. They usually find the correctional institutions having very harsh environments where they find a range of people from small time crooks to hardened criminals. Surviving this harsh environment and going back to society without any rehabilitation programs might be reason for repeated offense even after jail time for many ex-prisoners.
Such people can be helped by a conscious effort by the governing bodies to starting a fresh life after their life in prison. Rehabilitation programs should include psychological profiling to make sure they are fit for joining back the society, labor opportunities exclusively for prisoners that guarantees them at least a minimum wage to get their lives together and general counseling for the release prisoners to keep their mental health in a good condition. Dealing with social stigma is a very big challenge because changing human beliefs take time. Making the masses understand that everybody deserves a second chance and a new beginning could be achieved by creating media to advertise how imprisonment might affect an individual seems to be a solution. The media could be of online videos, movies, plays or music. Changing core beliefs of humans is a daunting task but I feel this is a viable approach. We can summarize that life after prison is not easy in multiple levels and it is only fair if we could give hope to people who are genuinely repenting their past.
