From Punishment to Possibility

"The U.S. incarcerates more people than any other country in the world, with over 1.8 million individuals behind bars. While many see prison as synonymous with justice, a psychological lens reveals that incarceration often exacerbates the very problems it claims to solve. According to psychologists Bloom & Bradshaw (2022), for example, U.S. prisons rely on a culture of punishment that actively undermines rehabilitation by retraumatizing incarcerated people, most of whom have extensive histories of early and chronic trauma."

"Prisons in the U.S. are frequently located hundreds of miles from incarcerated individuals' communities, producing isolation from family and social support networks that are central to psychological well-being and rehabilitation. This separation is compounded by the widespread use of solitary confinement, which has been shown to diminish cognitive functioning, impair emotional regulation, and increase risk for self-harm (Haney, 2020)."

The U.S. incarcerates over 1.8 million people, and punishment-oriented systems often retraumatize individuals with histories of early and chronic trauma. Prisons are frequently remote from family and community supports, and solitary confinement diminishes cognitive functioning, impairs emotional regulation, and raises the risk of self-harm. Approximately 95 percent of incarcerated people return to the community, so psychological harm produced by carceral isolation increases recidivism and exports damage into families and neighborhoods. Effective reform requires approaches that emphasize empathy, learning, and supportive relationships to promote rehabilitation and reduce cyclical harm.

Read at Psychology Today