The Reasons For Recidivism
The rate of recidivism suggests that the harsh attitude of society is destructive and boosts the rate of recidivism. The reality is that such treatment not only leaves them angry and resentful, but with very little opportunity to get hooks into the concept of decency. They will, 9 times out of ten return to crime upon release from prison.
Reasons for the high percentage of recidivism and the real cause of the failure of the system to achieve acceptable recidivism percentages.? Can you find 10 pork chops for R10 anywhere in this country? A loaf of bread between R2 and R5? Yes you can, but you’ll have to go to prison to get it, and if you do, you can even get to trade in it. Stamp this out and you’re already a step in the right direction toward repairing a system that needs fixing.
Is There Valid Reason For The High Percentages of Recidivism? Of course there is! The System – Its function on the ground is not conducive to what we would call ‘rehabilitation’. This is the sole reason for the high rate of recidivism in this country, but the reasons why the system is not conducive to its very own purpose are numerous. These will be brought to light in various other places on this blog, but for the moment I will only say that the system of incarceration is shallow, short sighted, without proper application, misdirected, ignorant and invites and even encourages corruption and tyranny.
To give an idea, albeit a mundane one, of why prison would appeal or be an attractive option to anyone who is poverty struck and homeless, consider the following:
* A pork chop/piece of chicken costs R1.00 in most prisons.
* A 2l container of beef – R10.00
* A 2l container of milk powder – R10.00
* A 2l container of peanut butter – R10.00
* A 2l container of sugar (brown) – R10.00
* A 2l container of oats – Between R5 and R10.00
* A loaf of bread – between R2.00 and R5.00
It is common, no, a way of life that prisoners and warders work together in both the theft and sale of these items. And these are just examples of what is available. There are warders who stock their spaza shops in the locations, townships and elsewhere with razor blades, toilet paper, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste etcetera from prison stocks and are enriching themselves – as are prisoners – at the taxpayers expense. Why? Because they can.
You certainly deserve a round of applause for your post and more specifically, your blog in general. Very high quality material.
Thank you SEOMAX. I haven’t been active for a long time. I hope you’ll follow th blog as I intend to propose a new system of incarceration which addresses all the issues which amount to the state of crime in our country at the moment. These would include numerous legacies of Apartheid which it would appear the government of the day has difficulty in understanding and no apparent solution. Those legacies are Education, Unemployment, Poverty, Crime, Moral Regeneration, social healing and Black Economic Empowerment at grass roots level. Thanks again for taking the time …
the other reason for recidivism could be the dysfunctional families, unemployment, and poor service delivery in the correctional centres
The impact on the family backbone by the incarceration system can be equated with the impact the Apartheid era had on the backbone of family life among the majority in South Africa. Incarceration of a person affects every family in South Africa and not just the families of those incarcerated. The system, as mentioned elsewhere, needs to address the actual issues and focus on them rather than focusing on a reactionary response to crime which stems from emotion and kills our creative ability to come up with better social solutions to crime.