I'm not even gonna look at what others have said. NOPE.
Answering the thread title only.
How about a world of hell-to-the-no.
If this is true, I should get arrested.
HEY MOM I'M GONNA GO MURDER A STRANGER BE BACK IN FOUR(TY) YEARS!
Okay, right... In all seriousness I understand the reason it's even a gorram idea. They think that by offering education and a chance at better jobs/gaining job skills, will prevent them from returning to crime or will enable them to have a decent life after prison.
NOT looking at the issue of, 'why the frank does a crack dealer get college and I don't?' it still is flawed. Who says they will even attempt to get a job? Not everyone changes, not everyone wants to change, hell for some jail is a goal, not a punishment. And even if it's offered to those that are 'most likely' not to follow their own example there is still a fact that most employers do not like hiring people with criminal records, especially federal offenses.
This sounds like a very naive view of criminals in general.
Those two kinds of criminals do exist but there are also people who, for example, may have been falsely accused (which is why I don't agree with the death penalty), may have done so to evade abuse or financial struggles, and while that makes them no less guilty, it doesn't mean that everyone's story is the same.
In my opinion prisons are set up completely wrong in the United states. America has this insane obsession with retribution to the point of ridiculousness and ruining someone's chances for redemption completely over one sinister act. If I kill someone with first degree murder when I am 20 years old
the rest of my life is stuck in prison without parole. Think about that for two seconds. If I'm not allowed out of a prison
for the rest of my ♥♥♥♥ing life how do you expect me to be willing to improve my behaviour? Furthermore, there are many crimes such as the fact that in some states if you're
caught with marijuana too many times you can get a life sentence. Or crimes such as the guy who ran Megaupload who probably won't be out of prison for the rest of his life either, for operating a site that the USERS uploaded copyright infringing materials. Yes, there are some really ♥♥♥♥ed up people in there, but just because they are convicted of a crime does not mean that they are a ♥♥♥♥ed up person.
Instead of having prisons be morally fixed on Retribution, we don't address what they're also known as - Correctional Facilities. Prisons should NOT be about punishing someone so severely that they can't get back on their feet because
they will return to the same crimes over and over again and that's why re incarceration rates are so high in the United States. How the ♥♥♥♥ do you expect someone who has been sheltered away from society for DECADES to be able to play a functioning role? Get a job? Try to turn his life around? Criminals aren't all the same and there are those Charles Manson types who are just ♥♥♥♥ed up. But honestly. How the ♥♥♥♥ do you expect someone to even have a reason to try to redeem themselves if they know there's nowhere to go EXCEPT prison?
It's also important to note that a lot of people are in prison for simply
BEING ADDICTED TO A DRUG AND GETTING CAUGHT WITH IT. In fact, I'm willing to bet that some people who go to prison go there initially because of a drug charge, and because they can't find a job afterwards because of how aggressive and destructive prisons are to both a person's hope and their prospects of getting a job, they end up doing more aggressive charges because they HAVE NO HOPE.
On an unrelated note, it is absolutely disgusting how the United States treats drug addicts and instead of realizing that they are suffering from a psychological need for a drug, they treat them like criminals because DRUGZ ARE BAD. Seriously, go ♥♥♥♥ yourselves. We cry and moan about "aw don't hurt their feelings because they're overweight" or some stupid ♥♥♥♥ like that, but if they're a drug addict, who, unlike most obese people, made ONE choice instead of many many many choices and are suffering from an extreme addiction psychologically. Someone shouldn't have their life ruined by ONE MISTAKE. Someone should have help to aid them through their ONE MISTAKE so they can get back on their feet again, not get their lives EVEN MORE RUINED because of it.
Anyways.
I fully agree with college education of prisoners, as long as the prisoners are well behaved and have a history of nonviolence. Why? Because it's a step in the right direction, from retribution to rehabilitation. By educating our prisoners we give them an ability to maybe step forward in life. We give them a reason to try to become a member of our society. Many prisoners to begin with are there because they couldn't find a place because they were low income or something. Of course, extra cautions should be made, but that doesn't mean that people can't turn themselves around. Stop the retribution and bring on the rehabilitation, already. It won't work with everyone. But they should at least have the option.