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1. I can't agree enough with the 'focus hard on medical treatment for those in jail'. Far too many people are in jail because, ultimately, they have some sort of psychiatric or other medical disorder that's screwed up their lives. Fix that, and you've made it possible (for some) and more feasible (for the rest) to sort out their lives and become functioning, legally obedient members of society.
2. Many religions require their members to have their head covered. Religion is also frequently a stabilising and disciplining element in peoples' lives. Disrupt their religion, and you're going to make it harder to rehab them.
3. Different types of hair and skin require different types of care and different toiletries. Unless your goal is to add constant annoyance (or even actual health risk) to the lives of prisoners of different hair and skin type to your own, don't restrict grooming supplies or styles to those which are suitable for your skin/hair type.
That said, within the limits of skin/hair type & religious dictates, a certain uniformity can be a disciplining force in the lives of the prisoners.
4. I strongly support both good work practice and life-skills training for people who have been proven to need to learn both. However, I'm not sure that charging the prisoners for it on exit, thus giving them a debt to cope with right from the start, is going to help. These are (usually) people who already find life difficult.
Maybe a trial program can be run to see if the overall cost to society is higher or lower if society just accepts the cost of teaching prisoners life skills. I suspect that once you take into account all the costs - including chasing up delinquent loans, dealing with people who can't budget, dealing with people who don't read well enough to understand simple signs - the overall benefit to society is greater than the cost of teaching.
5. As with the life skills teaching, I think good followup is necessary. Once a prisoner is released, they should be getting support until they've proven to cope with life on the outside.
2. Many religions require their members to have their head covered. Religion is also frequently a stabilising and disciplining element in peoples' lives. Disrupt their religion, and you're going to make it harder to rehab them.
3. Different types of hair and skin require different types of care and different toiletries. Unless your goal is to add constant annoyance (or even actual health risk) to the lives of prisoners of different hair and skin type to your own, don't restrict grooming supplies or styles to those which are suitable for your skin/hair type.
That said, within the limits of skin/hair type & religious dictates, a certain uniformity can be a disciplining force in the lives of the prisoners.
4. I strongly support both good work practice and life-skills training for people who have been proven to need to learn both. However, I'm not sure that charging the prisoners for it on exit, thus giving them a debt to cope with right from the start, is going to help. These are (usually) people who already find life difficult.
Maybe a trial program can be run to see if the overall cost to society is higher or lower if society just accepts the cost of teaching prisoners life skills. I suspect that once you take into account all the costs - including chasing up delinquent loans, dealing with people who can't budget, dealing with people who don't read well enough to understand simple signs - the overall benefit to society is greater than the cost of teaching.
5. As with the life skills teaching, I think good followup is necessary. Once a prisoner is released, they should be getting support until they've proven to cope with life on the outside.
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