Post & Future of Prison Policy - Haney & Zimbardo

Question 1

Summary of changes over the last 25 years

Answer 1

• Ronald Reagan’s Republican ‘War on Drugs’ led to political pressure to put more criminals behind bars
• Concept of rehabilitation was discredited - criminals deserved punishment
• Rigid sentencing, with no sentencing of parole
• Many new prisons built - USA imprisons most people
• Racial bias in prison population - 48% African Caribbean although only represent 6%. Mainly drug offences

Introduction of the Supermax cell

Question 2

Suggestions for improvements

Answer 2

• Prisons should be used less as they are psychologically damaging
• Prisons should take into account individual differences, in particular how a person is likely to react to confinement
• Rehabilitation programmes are needed to teach prisoners the skill to cope once released
• Reform needs to come from people outside the prison system who are empowered to act on it.
• Psychological knowledge should be used to improve the conditions within prisons