The painting shows an inmate in a dark, dreary cell cut off from the rest of the world. Incarceration brings forth the ultimate sense of loneliness and isolation. When prisoners aren't alone, they are surrounded by other criminals which only fosters the idea of crime. This makes it almost impossible for criminals to move away from their past. Craig Haney from the American Psychologist says, "At a more philosophical level, imprisonment was now said to further something called, "just desserts"- locking people up for no other reason than they deserve it and for no other purpose than to punish." With a mind set like this, rehabilitation will always fail.
The artist does allude to some hope in his painting when he writes, "You are a part of this world." Prison often dehumanizes people by making them dress in the same orange jumpsuit and keeping them locked up within concrete walls that show no sign of hope. The artist believes that prison is doing everything but rehabilitating people as they continue to use it as a way of inflicting pain.
Rehabilitation is a controversial idea in society because some people believe criminals should be taken out of society for good. Then, there are others such as this artist who believe that although they are criminals, they are also humans who deserve another chance. The painting however clearly shows which side of the argument is winning. With a system that is solely based on punishment, paintings like these will be the reality of prison for a long time to come.
Katrina, I enjoyed reading your post, and I think you really chose an interesting topic. I didn't see too many grammatical mistakes, but remember to indent! The first sentence, "The United States Prison System has a funny way of thinking" I feel was oddly phrased, and doesn't really mesh with the way the rest of your post was written.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that moral question the United States Prison System faces is should prisons focus on punishing their prisoners, or rehabilitate them? I am a little biased on this topic, as I feel that prison should act as a disciplinary act to punish criminals. It would not be fair to honest, law-abiding citizens who have to pay to aid criminals who have already harmed them. With the massive amounts of money we pour into the prison system, we as a society do not get as much in return.
I think you did a great job on your analysis of your image, and I think it fits really well with your topic. The image juxtaposes the hopes of rehabilitating prisoners with the cold reality of their cell, a consequence of their actions in life. Great job!
Thanks Katrina. Kevin is right, your first sentence is problematic. The "system" does not "think," and therefore the sentence really doesn't make sense. The final sentence in your first paragraph is also grammatically incorrect. What is the subject of that sentence? Your analysis of the image is good. I think in your paper, you might want to analyze it a bit more. This image seems to perfectly capture your thesis. Rather than rehabilitating prisoners, the current prison system isolates and punishes them. This image presents this. You might focus on the windows, the lighting, or the barren nature of the cell.
ReplyDeleteOne technical note: when you include quotations within quotations like "just desserts," you should put the internal quote in single quote marks like 'just desserts'.