Being a prisoner is not a joke. Imagine spending your years, or worse, your lifetime, inside a prison cell. You can’t be with your family, or do your normal daily activities. All you see are the four corners of the prison cell. This is the reason why some prisoners are losing hope already. But there are others who are optimistic that someday they will go back to their normal lives.

This is where Prisoner rehabilitation comes in. Prisoner rehabilitation has been started to reduce the incidence of recidivism. Criminal experts feel the need for prisoner rehabilitation programs so that cases of prisoners re-offending will be lessened. There are several methods or disciplines of prisoner rehabilitation. Some prisons are into the faith-based prisoner rehabilitation wherein religion is used to encourage inmates to adapt some moral values. 

For example, a New Zealand prison is implementing a Christian approach to its prisoner rehabilitation program. They are using prayer and spiritual transformation so that the prisoners who have been released will not have the tendency to be brought back in again. These prisons who are into the faith-based rehabilitation program want the inmates to explore their faith more deeply, and encourage them to indulge in daily prayer and worship. 

There are also prisons which practice the non-religious and non-medical approach to prisoner rehabilitation. Some of their programs last for about six to eight months. One such example is the Second Chance Program, which is composed of four modules: drug rehabilitation module, education module, self-respect module, and life skills module. This program does not use alternative drugs for its drug rehabilitation module, and the costs are extremely low compared to the other prisoner rehabilitation programs that use drugs and acquire the services of third party counselors.

Some prison units use a more rigid and strict discipline method of prisoner rehabilitation. Inmates are required to work in the fields. Some also incorporate some faith-based techniques so as to teach them some moral values. The Angola penitentiary, which was formerly known as the most violent jail in America, has declared that they are basically going to keep their prisoners until it has been made sure that they won’t “hurt” anybody again. Angola’s prisoner rehabilitation program has been put in question. People say that what the prisoners actually need is to be taught employable skills which are necessary to them once they are released back into society. 

Although prisoner rehabilitation does not guarantee that a prisoner will be released, or that they will not follow a life of crime anymore, at least it will give them a new perspective on life. It will ensure that prisoners do not go out with the same attitude they had when they came in. It will change their life and give them hope that there is life waiting for them outside the prison walls.