Prison Reform: Advocating for Parental Rights of Incarcerated Fathers
Introduction - Statement of the Problem: The U.S. prison population is the largest of any nation in the world in relation to its overall population, and is substantially over-represented by race in proportion to the non-incarcerated community. Single-parent families headed by a mother without substantial assistance from the father vastly outnumber two-parent households in much of urban American society, which is an established contributing factor in the relative likelihood of criminal behavior among children (Macionis 2002). Furthermore, modern criminologists have determined that the relative explosion in urban gang affiliation among teenagers is attributable, in no small part, to the absence of paternal guidance Gerrig & Zimbardo 2005) and that incarcerated fathers constitute role-modeling circumstances that only contribute negatively to children, by perpetuating the "normalization" of incarceration as a rite of passage in many impoverished communities (Pinizzotto 2007 ). As a result, a repetitive cycle has developed whereby fatherless youths, already predisposed to higher incidence of criminal inclination, become more vulnerable to gang recruitment at an earlier and early
First, this transformation of purpose is conducive to reducing any shame associated with remedial education on the part of the father; second, it provides a much more tangible form of reward capable of being realized in the short term instead of a reward based on the long term; and third, as anybody who has ever had experience teaching knows, very little enhances one's own subject matter comprehension than the act of instructing others (Gerrig & Zimbardo 2005). Again, in this respect, incarceration of the father directly corresponds to lower educational performance and dramatically reduces the likelihood of their children pursuing advanced education compared to children whose fathers are not incarcerated (Macionis 2002). Meanwhile, most traditional family visits afford little if any opportunity for fathers to contribute in any meaningful way to their children's development. To satisfy any potentially applicable constitutional requirements, comparable opportunities might be instituted for all participants in voluntary educational opportunities across the board and without regard to parenthood. More specifically, the effort to develop appropriate adult-education materials that coincide closely with the subject matter within public primary, middle, and secondary education requires absolutely no change at all to the latter in order to be incorporated as a rough framework for the development of course materials suitable to the former. Within this initiative, social work professionals would play an essential role, particularly in coordinating the educational material available to prisoners with the ongoing education of their children, wherever possible to further solidify the potential benefits of increased parental involvement. While it might be comparatively less helpful where the inmates are (1) already behind their children's educational level and (2) functionally illiterate. First, there is tremendous potential for increasing the motivation for inmates to participate in voluntary education programs where they are presented as opportunities to help educate their children, (which will be discussed in much further detail in the next section); second, it would provide a context for the genuine inclusion of fathers in the actual parental responsibilities of mentoring and participation in more meaningful interactions than normally possible within the context of traditional family visits. age, end up incarcerated themselves by early adulthood. Even beyond the beneficial potential of increased voluntary participation in educational opportunities among the incarcerated community, participation in such a program could also be incorporated into the available incentives used almost universally in the case of conjugal visits available to some prisoners within federal facilities (Schmalleger 1997). If, as is often the situation, the father is functionally literate, performing below his academic potential mainly because he left school after the ninth or tenth grade. Principal fieldwork, particularly at the initial design and development phase would include collection of information and materials used in different locals. Coincidentally, (or not so coincidentally, if one considers causation) the appropriate level of educational programs for many incarcerated fathers likely corresponds rather closely to the educational range of their children. In principle, therefore, prison educational programs could, with relative ease in comparison to the potential value of doing so, be designed to allow maximum possible overlap between the prison education material and the subject matter comprised by contemporary public education.
Common topics in this essay:
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Gerrig Zimbardo,
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Prisoner Cooperation,
Introduction Statement,
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schmalleger 1997,
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traditional family visits,
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Acceptance Essays
