[Music]
I’m here to talk to you about divorce I
have to admit I’m absolutely positively
100% in favor of divorce what else is
there to do when the marriage is
dysfunctional ineffective creating poor
outcomes for everyone involved
I say nothing let’s get it over with and
divorce already now the type of divorce
I’m talking about it’s probably a bit
different than what you’re thinking what
I’m referring to is a divorce within our
correctional and prison system over the
last 12 years I’ve worked in various
parts of the criminal justice world with
most of that focused on Corrections the
correctional system includes the
agencies that oversee in areas prisons
halfway houses and community supervision
programs now there are generally two
types of people who get into Corrections
work those who want to enforce rules and
laws and those who want to help with
rehabilitation I started my career as a
correctional officer like the first
group of people
I made sure inmates were following the
rules and not doing anything dangerous
while they were in prison eventually I
moved into correctional Investigations
where I was looking deeper into rule of
law violations for things like assault
and by staff for things like excessive
use of force but I grew frustrated
because no matter what I did it never
really felt like things were getting
better so I moved into Community
Corrections like the second group of
people
unlike prison community corrections
tends to be more focused on
rehabilitating offenders but even there
it didn’t feel like what I was doing was
changing behavior or making a lasting
positive impact I was fed up so about
six years ago I decided I was gonna
figure out why our system wasn’t working
started researching but instead of
focusing on things like how to prevent
crime I took a look at how we manage
corrections from a systems perspective
I studied the cultures leadership styles
and social identities of Corrections and
how those within the system view their
roles
and responsibilities and then it became
clear the underlying reason our system
doesn’t work today is because the
practices of punishment are too
interconnected with our goal of
rehabilitation now I suspect that most
of you haven’t been to prison before so
let me explain a bit how it works after
receiving a sentence by the court you
enter the corrections system and we
spend a lot of time interviewing and
assessing you when you get there to
determine whether you go to a high or a
low security prison and that is key
inmates are assigned to prisons based
upon how much we anticipate they’re
going to misbehave while they’re there
and what that means unfortunately is
they aren’t assigned to prisons based
upon their specific needs
for rehabilitation and treatment so if
it’s addiction that got you in trouble
in the first place cross your fingers
and hope that your prison has addictions
counseling and therapy because it might
not and then you’re stuck there at this
prison for however long without access
to the right treatment this points to a
fundamental problem with our prison
philosophy in the United States
punishment is the foundation of your
prison experience and the priority
throughout rehabilitation is an
afterthought and is only lightly
sprinkled like seasoning on a steak on
top of a system whose core purpose is to
punish and that is why I’m proposing a
divorce a divorce that would once and
for all
separate the practices of punishment
from rehabilitation creating two
separate tracks one for those requiring
retribution and one for those requiring
recovery before they reenter society you
may have heard of the revolving door of
the justice system when people talk
about it what they’re referring to is
the ninety five percent of offenders who
will be released from prison after
serving their sentences and the 67
percent who will return back to prison
for a new crime within three years a
cycle
known as recidivism what if I told you
that 67% of your investments would go
belly-up within three years or that 67%
of your medical procedures would need to
be redone within three years you’d
probably find a new financial adviser
and a doctor because there’s no way you
would put up with these results but when
it comes to the correctional system we
do which is why we need a divorced
two-track correctional system one for
punishment and one for rehabilitation
let’s talk about track one punishment
there is a population of offenders in
this world who are high-risk who
demonstrate patterns of criminal
behavior who engage in serious
misconduct and who have histories of
violence and a system of punishment and
incapacitation is wholly appropriate
that doesn’t mean just locking them up
and throwing away the key for these
violent and dangerous offenders it is
appropriate to incarcerate with access
to just basic programs in a strict
prison environment let’s talk about our
penal philosophy in the United States
our system of punishment can be traced
back to the penal philosophy of the mid
1700s BC in the Code of Hammurabi during
his reign he enforced his now infamous
282 code laws a couple of which you
might be familiar with if a man put out
the eye of another man his eye shall be
put out how about if a man knock out the
teeth of his equal his teeth shall be
knocked out sounds a lot like an eye for
an eye tooth for a tooth that showed up
later in the Old Testament at its core
this is a very retributive ideal that
shaped the way Corrections would later
be established in the United States
let’s fast-forward to pre American
Revolution times were there we see
retribution x’ legacy ingrained in the
fabric of the United States through
things like public whippings
humiliations
mutilations and in some instances even
castrations back then crime was viewed
as a sin against God and responses to
those violations were often swift and
brutal when we get to the early 19th
century the system shifted to reduce
physical violence while maintaining a
strict punishment structure the first
Penitentiary’s in the u.s. were based
upon the religious idea that solitary
confinement forced silence and hard
labor as well as penitence will reform
offenders and make them change their
behavior
it wasn’t even until the 1870s that
rehabilitation entered our prisons at
that time the correctional system looked
to the medical community and how they
were using individualized treatment as a
means to cure patients if we treat
patients on a one-to-one basis to cure
illness why couldn’t we do something
with criminals and cure their
criminality
so prisons began using rehabilitative
techniques like psychotherapy and
counseling treating criminal behavior
like a sickness which led to the
establishment of the nation’s first
reformatory in Elmira New York and that
is why some of you might be saying to
yourselves
exactly we do provide rehabilitation in
the system now why do we need two
separate tracks two that I call
shenanigans
because remember our correctional
systems were born of punishment forged
through punishment and remained
fundamentally rooted in ideals that are
directly connected to punishment and as
such rehabilitation has never truly been
attempted separate and apart from
punishment how is it we expect any
rehabilitative effort to be successful
when punishment was and still is the
core of the system look it would be like
taking a taco and jamming it in between
a couple of pieces of bread and then
calling it a sandwich but technically it
has the elements of the sandwich but at
its core it’s still a delicious taco
I came face-to-face with this tension a
few years ago while touring a treatment
program in a local prison the program
had uniformed correctional staff members
to maintain security and control but
also clinical specialists to guide and
facilitate rehabilitation and behavior
change as I was walking around I came
across a couple of inmates engaged in a
non violent disagreement one of the
goals of this program was to teach
inmates how to better manage this type
of conflict so they could have those
skills before they exited the facility I
watched as a clinician approached them
and walked them through this alternative
way to have this disagreement they tried
it the disagreement was fixed and
everyone went on about their day I had
just seen behavior change practice
inaction
but then I noticed there was a uniform
correctional staff member higher-ranking
watching being the organizational
scientists I had to ask her what she
thought she said these inmates are given
too much leeway they are not held
accountable enough she told me they are
inmates not patience translation they’re
not getting enough punishment
I wondered how would this disagreement
between these two inmates have been
handled by this staff member had that
clinician not gotten there first and
that again is why we need a divorced
two-track correctional system one track
for punishment and one for
rehabilitation I’ve mentioned punishment
so let’s talk about track two
rehabilitation 53% of offenders are
considered non-violent incarcerated for
things like theft drug possession and
property crimes this group would follow
the rehabilitation track it is important
to understand that sentencing would mark
the end of punishment and that decisions
made after the point of sentencing would
be directly and narrowly focused on
these individuals reenter in our
communities prepared for success in our
current correctional system decisions
about entry into community
grams or four released from prison to
parole are often shaded by how much time
has been served time served is
punishment at its roots in this new
structure criteria would be based not on
how much punishment has been doled out
but whether the appropriate treatment
has been delivered and drivers of
criminal behavior like addiction reduced
this rehabilitation track would consist
of treatment based facilities where deep
therapeutic approaches can be used
without the contamination of retribution
and staffed by people specifically
focused on treatment Social Work and
behavioral health specialists whose
attitudes skills and beliefs are aligned
with things like behavior change and who
are committed to modeling the
appropriate conduct to help offenders
reenter our communities although this is
a radical paradigm shift in the u.s.
this type of rehabilitation is happening
we just have to look to Norway and their
philosophical approach as an example now
I understand the valid criticisms of
comparing the u.s. to Norway we differ
in size demographics and history so
let’s focus on their prison philosophy
Norway’s correctional philosophy is
specifically focused on rehabilitation
with the end goal that all inmates will
reenter society having reduced their
risk to RIA fend and it has allowed them
to achieve in astonishingly low twenty
percent recidivism rate compared to our
67 former prison governor in Norway our
Nilsen similar to a warden here in the
u.s. said if we have created a holiday
camp here for criminals so what we
should reduce the risk of reoffending
because if we don’t what is the purpose
of punishment except for leaning toward
the primitive side of humanity
he’s right now this type of change
certainly won’t happen overnight
and we are not going to be the next
Norway tomorrow but a divorce to track
correctional system punishment and
rehabilitation is a step in the right
direction ultimately such a radical
change in our correctional system will
be difficult but not impossible it
begins by questioning our beliefs about
what Corrections is supposed to be by
initiating conversations in our
communities with like-minded people but
also with skeptics as well as civic and
community leaders and those responsible
for shaping and designing our
correctional systems structural change
requires collective action so I call on
you to join me in envisioning a
radically different correctional system
where each tracks purpose is specific
and independent of the other where
practitioners can flourish because they
are aligned with the track that they
choose to work in and where you as
members of the community have your
expectations met when it comes to
punishment and rehabilitation and we’re
finally in this divorced
to track correctional system we will
have drastically slowed the ever
revolving door and made our communities
safer for all of us thank you
[Applause]
you
I’m here to talk to you about divorce I
have to admit I’m absolutely positively
100% in favor of divorce what else is
there to do when the marriage is
dysfunctional ineffective creating poor
outcomes for everyone involved
I say nothing let’s get it over with and
divorce already now the type of divorce
I’m talking about it’s probably a bit
different than what you’re thinking what
I’m referring to is a divorce within our
correctional and prison system over the
last 12 years I’ve worked in various
parts of the criminal justice world with
most of that focused on Corrections the
correctional system includes the
agencies that oversee in areas prisons
halfway houses and community supervision
programs now there are generally two
types of people who get into Corrections
work those who want to enforce rules and
laws and those who want to help with
rehabilitation I started my career as a
correctional officer like the first
group of people
I made sure inmates were following the
rules and not doing anything dangerous
while they were in prison eventually I
moved into correctional Investigations
where I was looking deeper into rule of
law violations for things like assault
and by staff for things like excessive
use of force but I grew frustrated
because no matter what I did it never
really felt like things were getting
better so I moved into Community
Corrections like the second group of
people
unlike prison community corrections
tends to be more focused on
rehabilitating offenders but even there
it didn’t feel like what I was doing was
changing behavior or making a lasting
positive impact I was fed up so about
six years ago I decided I was gonna
figure out why our system wasn’t working
started researching but instead of
focusing on things like how to prevent
crime I took a look at how we manage
corrections from a systems perspective
I studied the cultures leadership styles
and social identities of Corrections and
how those within the system view their
roles
and responsibilities and then it became
clear the underlying reason our system
doesn’t work today is because the
practices of punishment are too
interconnected with our goal of
rehabilitation now I suspect that most
of you haven’t been to prison before so
let me explain a bit how it works after
receiving a sentence by the court you
enter the corrections system and we
spend a lot of time interviewing and
assessing you when you get there to
determine whether you go to a high or a
low security prison and that is key
inmates are assigned to prisons based
upon how much we anticipate they’re
going to misbehave while they’re there
and what that means unfortunately is
they aren’t assigned to prisons based
upon their specific needs
for rehabilitation and treatment so if
it’s addiction that got you in trouble
in the first place cross your fingers
and hope that your prison has addictions
counseling and therapy because it might
not and then you’re stuck there at this
prison for however long without access
to the right treatment this points to a
fundamental problem with our prison
philosophy in the United States
punishment is the foundation of your
prison experience and the priority
throughout rehabilitation is an
afterthought and is only lightly
sprinkled like seasoning on a steak on
top of a system whose core purpose is to
punish and that is why I’m proposing a
divorce a divorce that would once and
for all
separate the practices of punishment
from rehabilitation creating two
separate tracks one for those requiring
retribution and one for those requiring
recovery before they reenter society you
may have heard of the revolving door of
the justice system when people talk
about it what they’re referring to is
the ninety five percent of offenders who
will be released from prison after
serving their sentences and the 67
percent who will return back to prison
for a new crime within three years a
cycle
known as recidivism what if I told you
that 67% of your investments would go
belly-up within three years or that 67%
of your medical procedures would need to
be redone within three years you’d
probably find a new financial adviser
and a doctor because there’s no way you
would put up with these results but when
it comes to the correctional system we
do which is why we need a divorced
two-track correctional system one for
punishment and one for rehabilitation
let’s talk about track one punishment
there is a population of offenders in
this world who are high-risk who
demonstrate patterns of criminal
behavior who engage in serious
misconduct and who have histories of
violence and a system of punishment and
incapacitation is wholly appropriate
that doesn’t mean just locking them up
and throwing away the key for these
violent and dangerous offenders it is
appropriate to incarcerate with access
to just basic programs in a strict
prison environment let’s talk about our
penal philosophy in the United States
our system of punishment can be traced
back to the penal philosophy of the mid
1700s BC in the Code of Hammurabi during
his reign he enforced his now infamous
282 code laws a couple of which you
might be familiar with if a man put out
the eye of another man his eye shall be
put out how about if a man knock out the
teeth of his equal his teeth shall be
knocked out sounds a lot like an eye for
an eye tooth for a tooth that showed up
later in the Old Testament at its core
this is a very retributive ideal that
shaped the way Corrections would later
be established in the United States
let’s fast-forward to pre American
Revolution times were there we see
retribution x’ legacy ingrained in the
fabric of the United States through
things like public whippings
humiliations
mutilations and in some instances even
castrations back then crime was viewed
as a sin against God and responses to
those violations were often swift and
brutal when we get to the early 19th
century the system shifted to reduce
physical violence while maintaining a
strict punishment structure the first
Penitentiary’s in the u.s. were based
upon the religious idea that solitary
confinement forced silence and hard
labor as well as penitence will reform
offenders and make them change their
behavior
it wasn’t even until the 1870s that
rehabilitation entered our prisons at
that time the correctional system looked
to the medical community and how they
were using individualized treatment as a
means to cure patients if we treat
patients on a one-to-one basis to cure
illness why couldn’t we do something
with criminals and cure their
criminality
so prisons began using rehabilitative
techniques like psychotherapy and
counseling treating criminal behavior
like a sickness which led to the
establishment of the nation’s first
reformatory in Elmira New York and that
is why some of you might be saying to
yourselves
exactly we do provide rehabilitation in
the system now why do we need two
separate tracks two that I call
shenanigans
because remember our correctional
systems were born of punishment forged
through punishment and remained
fundamentally rooted in ideals that are
directly connected to punishment and as
such rehabilitation has never truly been
attempted separate and apart from
punishment how is it we expect any
rehabilitative effort to be successful
when punishment was and still is the
core of the system look it would be like
taking a taco and jamming it in between
a couple of pieces of bread and then
calling it a sandwich but technically it
has the elements of the sandwich but at
its core it’s still a delicious taco
I came face-to-face with this tension a
few years ago while touring a treatment
program in a local prison the program
had uniformed correctional staff members
to maintain security and control but
also clinical specialists to guide and
facilitate rehabilitation and behavior
change as I was walking around I came
across a couple of inmates engaged in a
non violent disagreement one of the
goals of this program was to teach
inmates how to better manage this type
of conflict so they could have those
skills before they exited the facility I
watched as a clinician approached them
and walked them through this alternative
way to have this disagreement they tried
it the disagreement was fixed and
everyone went on about their day I had
just seen behavior change practice
inaction
but then I noticed there was a uniform
correctional staff member higher-ranking
watching being the organizational
scientists I had to ask her what she
thought she said these inmates are given
too much leeway they are not held
accountable enough she told me they are
inmates not patience translation they’re
not getting enough punishment
I wondered how would this disagreement
between these two inmates have been
handled by this staff member had that
clinician not gotten there first and
that again is why we need a divorced
two-track correctional system one track
for punishment and one for
rehabilitation I’ve mentioned punishment
so let’s talk about track two
rehabilitation 53% of offenders are
considered non-violent incarcerated for
things like theft drug possession and
property crimes this group would follow
the rehabilitation track it is important
to understand that sentencing would mark
the end of punishment and that decisions
made after the point of sentencing would
be directly and narrowly focused on
these individuals reenter in our
communities prepared for success in our
current correctional system decisions
about entry into community
grams or four released from prison to
parole are often shaded by how much time
has been served time served is
punishment at its roots in this new
structure criteria would be based not on
how much punishment has been doled out
but whether the appropriate treatment
has been delivered and drivers of
criminal behavior like addiction reduced
this rehabilitation track would consist
of treatment based facilities where deep
therapeutic approaches can be used
without the contamination of retribution
and staffed by people specifically
focused on treatment Social Work and
behavioral health specialists whose
attitudes skills and beliefs are aligned
with things like behavior change and who
are committed to modeling the
appropriate conduct to help offenders
reenter our communities although this is
a radical paradigm shift in the u.s.
this type of rehabilitation is happening
we just have to look to Norway and their
philosophical approach as an example now
I understand the valid criticisms of
comparing the u.s. to Norway we differ
in size demographics and history so
let’s focus on their prison philosophy
Norway’s correctional philosophy is
specifically focused on rehabilitation
with the end goal that all inmates will
reenter society having reduced their
risk to RIA fend and it has allowed them
to achieve in astonishingly low twenty
percent recidivism rate compared to our
67 former prison governor in Norway our
Nilsen similar to a warden here in the
u.s. said if we have created a holiday
camp here for criminals so what we
should reduce the risk of reoffending
because if we don’t what is the purpose
of punishment except for leaning toward
the primitive side of humanity
he’s right now this type of change
certainly won’t happen overnight
and we are not going to be the next
Norway tomorrow but a divorce to track
correctional system punishment and
rehabilitation is a step in the right
direction ultimately such a radical
change in our correctional system will
be difficult but not impossible it
begins by questioning our beliefs about
what Corrections is supposed to be by
initiating conversations in our
communities with like-minded people but
also with skeptics as well as civic and
community leaders and those responsible
for shaping and designing our
correctional systems structural change
requires collective action so I call on
you to join me in envisioning a
radically different correctional system
where each tracks purpose is specific
and independent of the other where
practitioners can flourish because they
are aligned with the track that they
choose to work in and where you as
members of the community have your
expectations met when it comes to
punishment and rehabilitation and we’re
finally in this divorced
to track correctional system we will
have drastically slowed the ever
revolving door and made our communities
safer for all of us thank you
[Applause]
you
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