Prisoners Normative Reintegration into Society Essay -- Social Issues,

Normative reintegration into society and the resocialization of released prisoners has long been a prominent problem in society. With recidivism rates in the United States upwards of 69% it is quite clear that released prisoners are having difficulty readjusting and returning to normative lives in society (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2008). Prison aims to serve retribution, incapacitate, deter, and rehabilitate offenders, but much of the research on recidivism rates criticize the idea that â€Å"prison works† (Dhami, 2006). However, it seems with so many prisoners returning to prison within a year of being released, the prison system is not providing inmates with the rehabilitation and therapy needed to function once they return to society. In the past many studies have shown that inmates who take place in vocational and therapy based programs are more successful with reintegration into everyday life upon their release. Additionally, there have been numerous studies that h ave shown the healing and therapeutic abilities of animals when used in programs with deviant, sick, or mentally ill individual(Deaton, 2006) (Dell, 2011) (Field, 1951). So it would seem that the combination of vocational programs with the use of animals would be the next logical step in prison programs. While animal therapy programs are relatively new in the justice system, there are quite a few currently in use in prisons around the United States (Furst, 2006). The proposed study would be exploratory in nature and seeks to answer the following question; are prisoners that complete animal therapy programs while incarcerated more successful with normative reintegration into society when released? The researcher proposes that inmates who complete animal th... ...olees who experience homelessness are far more likely to return to prison than parolees that have a place to live (Visher, 2003). The emotional health, well being, and social comfort of a parolee is very important to reintegration into society as well. Many parolees have a difficult time controlling anger, relating to people, adapting to new situations, and maintaining friendships and family relationships. Programs with animals teach prisoners social and emotional skills that may help ease the transition for a parolee into society upon release. According to a study done on an animal therapy program in Virginia women’s correctional facility, in the last three years the prisoners that completed the program have a 0% recidivism rate and 100% employment rate, which is a far cry from the statistics of prisoners who did not participate in like programs (Deaton, 2005).