City Journal published an article recently advocating that America adopt the Japanese model of prison reform.
America’s federal prisons are decaying and overcrowded, contributing to violence among inmates and undermining opportunities for rehabilitation. But thanks to an infusion of federal cash authorized by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Bureau of Prisons has a chance to clean things up. As the BOP weighs those and other reforms, it should look to Japan, where prisons are spacious, efficient, and largely disorder-free.
. . .
Federal prisons are currently about 10 percent over capacity. At BOP’s high-security lockups, the figure is 23 percent ... Japanese prisons, by contrast, operated at 47 percent of capacity in 2023. Their facilities, not coincidently, haven’t seen riots or wide-scale disorder in decades, and they report far fewer assaults on inmates ... These differences can’t be attributed, moreover, to differences in system size or composition. Though Japan is a much smaller country, its prisons detain roughly the same proportion of people as America’s federal prisons, relative to population.
There's more at the link.
That's all very well, but it ignores some great big red flags over the US prison system - state and local as well as federal. Having worked as a prison chaplain in both federal and state systems, I can summarize the issues like this:
- There are far too many people in prison, because we criminalize far too many minor offenses. What should be handled by a fine, or a "boot camp" for young offenders, or so many hours of public service, is instead shuffled off onto an already overburdened prison and jail system. The revolving door never stops spinning. I've known individuals imprisoned three or four times in a single year for short sentences, only to come out, offend again, and be incarcerated once more. It makes no sense.
- Prisons themselves are basically warehouses for criminals. The federal system is better than most state systems, but none of them offer much in the way of rehabilitation, vocational education and/or training, or meaningful efforts to help people change their way of life once they get out of prison. Nobody cares about the prisoners, to put it bluntly. They want them out of sight and out of mind, so prison budgets are set to do precisely that - and nothing more.
- Our prisons are "fed" by a welfare and entitlement system that pays people to live in dysfunctional families, attend dysfunctional schools, and emerge as dysfunctional adults in a dysfunctional society. To reform our prison system, start by reforming the society in which our prisoners live, out of which they come, and to which they return.
- Our young offenders are given slaps on the wrist rather than real punishment or correction when they do wrong. Offenders might get to 17 or 18 years old with literally dozens of arrests and convictions, and never receive any serious punishment - but when they're legally no longer kids, and do precisely and exactly the same thing for the umpteenth time, they're slammed with an adult sentence of years in jail. They don't understand it, and they resent it, and they become even more bitter and anti-social as a result. Frankly, I can understand that. It's like complaining that a puppy pees on the carpet in the living-room, but never trying to train him not to do that. He's going to go on doing what he can get away with, and never think twice about it. When he becomes an adult, some owners take their "undomesticated" dogs out back and shoot them, because they're "incorrigible" - but it's the owners' fault in the first place.
- As a society, we've largely abandoned a working system of ethical and moral values. "If it feels good, do it" became the mantra of the 1960's, followed by the pagan "An it harm none, do what thou wilt". The results are to be seen woven into the very fabric of society. We've abandoned the Biblical wisdom of "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it". It's going to take generations to reinvent and reapply such basic standards, but unless and until we do, our prisons will bear mute witness to our joint culpability.
Peter
Societal culture is rarely considered when this topic is brought up. American culture contributes a lot to overcrowded prisons. It's honestly very acceptable in many subcultures to commit crimes. The break down of the family unit via out of wedlock births, children being raised in fatherless homes... There's quite a number of studies on the effects these have on children. But we do need to ask ourselves why this happens here in America far more than any other developed country.
ReplyDeleteThe obvious answer is Satan as this is a tool he uses in his attempt to thwart the Father's plan but what led society in this direction? I believe it was slavery and the decades of acceptable treatment of blacks. Look, I'm not woke nor do I believe in CRT but we also do ourselves no service by ignoring the realities of the lasting impact slavery has had on America's subcultures.
It's an interesting topic to study and one I definitely don't have time to lay out on a commentary of a blog but the two biggest ways to fight it, IMHO, is teaching of Christ and personal accountability and reeducation in prisons to include how America is still the land of opportunity and how they can take advantage of that (basically what you were saying, Peter, about offering vocational training but I'm adding specifically covering how this will lead to a life of respect, self-sufficiency, hopefully prosperity, etc... instead of crime).
Sorry but `slavery` is used as an excuse. Its more a tribal culture thing - until that is understood, there isn't much that can be done to address the situation.
DeleteBring back chain gangs.
ReplyDeleteRobert Heinlein had a lot to say on point 4 in Starship Troopers, and I've repeated the theme to a lot of other people over the years.
ReplyDeleteI've also heard a lot about the Norwegian prison system, which does focus on correction and return to society, and seems to do well with that. However, one important point about the Japanese and Norwegian systems that doesn't get mentioned much - the prisoners are mostly Japanese and Norwegian, respectively. This also aligns with several of your points, in that, culturally, there is strong pressure to conform, and an ingrained mindset on being a good citizen. Those countries also have pretty uniform genetics, for what that's worth, and it would be interesting if someone could figure out their rates of virilicide over the last couple hundred years.
That is the point I was going to make. They completely ignore national and cultural differences when making these comparisons. Japan is a highly homogenous society with a culture of submission to authority. The US is neither. Any study comparing the two countries in any way that doesn't take that (and probably other societal factors as well) into account is completely invalid and should be dismissed out of hand.
DeleteThe Norwegian system breaks down horribly when non-Norwegians are put into it. It's just not reported as to how bad the system fails. Kind of like how safe Sweden is, until you realize that Sweden doesn't report crime committed by non-Swedes (from the Middle East and Africa, specifically.)
DeleteJapan's prison system treats foreigners very harshly. So does the rest of Japan's legal system.
A quick synopsis of the whole situation is that many countries absolutely lie about the levels of crime and how prisoners are treated.
City Journal should put down the bong pipe. That article is just weird
ReplyDelete1. Japanese people are, in general, far more law abiding and to a degree that includes the incarcerated criminals - particularly the non-violent ones.
2. I would not trust any data about Japanese prisons. Japan has many good things but the criminal justice system is not one of them. Yes Japan has a low crime rate but it also has statistically improbably high clear up and conviction rates. Both are IIRC well over 90%. That means that, among other things, there's an excellent chance that a large number of the incarcerated are innocent slobs who realize there's no appeal and just want to do their time and get out.
3. I have not checked the numbers but I would be entirely unsurprised to discover that Japanese prisons have a lot of Epstein-like suicides and relatedly a fairly high number of "accidental" deaths and injuries.
I've heard part of that is that prosecutors won't even bring charges unless they are absolutely sure that they'll win.
DeletePeople underrate the wisdom of one particular punishment for violent criminals.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04clpd7h0b0
Anonymous: I appreciated your comment and the Heinlein reference, but "virilicide"? Literally, that would mean "killing males," I think, but I couldn't find that word anywhere.
ReplyDeleteWell, now that you ask, I don't remember where I got it, but this interview with Richard Morgan (who I have read, so that may be it) has his explanation.
DeleteBut, the way I'm thinking of it is that in a society that's settled down and is getting "civilized", the aggressive Male traits that used to be advantageous are now disruptive and destructive, and so the males who exhibit them most strongly get themselves killed.
Well, copying the link isn't working, I'll try from another device later.
DeleteOne more point on virilicide changing a society. Japan being almost completely closed to outsiders, if the troublemakers are being systematically weeded out of the gene pool, things will change, without replacement from outside. I could suggest that Norway got rid a lot of troublemakers through sending them out on viking raids, and then the mass emigration of the 19th and early 20th centuries, but now with immigration spiking, they're getting malcontents from other places.
"Virilicide"
Deletehttps://clarkesworldmagazine.com/morgan_interview/
As others have noted the Japanese prisons by and large have Japanese prisoners. Plus there's the pressure to close each case, check all boxes etc. That just won't happen in America. I've worked a long time in prisons and jails in every position except warden and prisoner and there are good people trying their best in there but you can't change society.
ReplyDeleteI could find work, hard work but jobs for nearly all my prisoners. Most chose not to take them. The jobs paid better than mine but it was work. They couldn't run with their street friends and needed to change their lives. Most prisoners weren't ready for that. I tried but in the end it comes down to the man.
Agree on the funding. Colorado hasn't executed anyone in decades while 12 prisoners have died riding poorly maintained transports.
ReplyDeleteLike [take your pick] anything government does it turns a workable concept/activity into a a mess and/or grift because…other peoples money with no skin in the game. The law, and it’s support farm - prisons - haven been turned into big business, and those two must grow at all cost, capturing more and more into it, even the decent unsuspecting citizen.
ReplyDeletePrivatize prisons (not local jails), that will take care of the poor effectiveness while being as humane as feasible, otherwise we get what we have: the same result as that Kansas City government run grocery store that is down the block from the bus stop, anther system that has been made ‘“free” by the geniuses in charge who failed see the consequences of the human condition when making those two free for the taking.
And how will those private prisons be funded? We already have prisons that have a per prisoner funding allotment from the DOJ, which allows them the graft opportunity of spending less on feeding the prisoners and skimming the difference between their per prisoner expenditures and the per prisoner allotment.
DeleteTo say nothing of the incentive they have to keep people in as long as possible, even the prisoner's actual sentence would have had them out earlier. Someone sentenced to two years imprisonment and 8 years parole, for example, being imprisoned for 8 years and paroled for 2.
That doesn't even get into places that will do early release for the "frequent flyers" because they know they'll get them back, and keeping the "one and done" criminals as long as possible, because they'll likely never see them again.
One terrible consequence of the revolving door of "Justice" is that the prison mentality has gradually become mainstream. Many males (I won't dignify them as men) dress as if they are in a prison yard, with sagging pants and untied shoes. The recent trial of P. Diddy shows that his world was infused with this mentality, pushing straight males to have sex with other males, as if women were not available. People are choosing to act like prisoners both inside and outside the prison walls. I fear where this will lead.
ReplyDeleteI've got some ideas that might help reduce the problem with the prison system.
ReplyDeleteFirst we have a lot of crimes where rightfully the person found to have done them should have been hung. (Note : they need to have actual evidence of this.) But they should not be in the prison system past a certain point. Hang them and be done with it, don't have them linger in the prison system for four decades while the courts get tied up in appeal after appeal to release them.
Second your right, a lot of crimes should not be go to jail. There is a lot of low level stuff that really should have been sorted out with community service. (Note : this community service should not be a slap on the wrist style, but things that need to be done but no one wants to do.)
Third there are crimes which are below the level of hanging people for, but above the level of leave them in prison. Previous generations would strip their citizenship and exile them. Personally this to me has always been a decent idea. Center of Africa comes to mind.
Fourth there seems to be a disconnect in how jail is viewed and operated. People like the OP, think its to correct behavior, yet the judges seem to believe its more of a holding cell. Personally I think its more of a finishing school for criminals. You go in and get hardened, so when you get out your worse. Frankly we need to separate the groups. House the ones capable of reform in work camps. Hard labor to convince them they don't want to come back. Take the rest and bury them in a dark hole till they die of old age. (Note : This second group is reserved for those who are clearly not willing to change, those who are on their 15+ arrest. In their case mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.)
There are other things that can be done, but these I feel would be a good start.
Oh and as a bonus at least in the South. Bring back the old Chain Gangs. It was a good mix of helping build stuff that needed to be built, and giving prisoners a life skill. And most importantly working in the South in the heat, humidity, with the nats and mosquitoes. Made most of them very reluctant to wind up back in jail.
- W
Rehab programs - like the strong arm criminal that was given a high school education in prison and then started kiting checks after being released.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of "crimes" on the book that should not be crimes.
ReplyDelete"... it should look to Japan, where prisons are spacious, efficient, and largely disorder-free."
ReplyDeleteLet's just say that any comparisons are so skewed by the differences in the cultural backgrounds and racial makeup of the prison population that they are likely worthless.
Mandatory military service would dramatically reduce overall criminality from young men. Punishment instead of attention from their peers + some mentorship comradery would serve them better than any prison sentence.
ReplyDeleteNO. Absolutely NO. We tried that back in the day and all you got were gang-bangers getting trained in better tactics to take back to the 'hood, plus weapons being stolen from armories.
DeleteThe modern military has no place for ignorant and unteachable cannon fodder. Leave them in the hood (and eventually in the grave).
Comparing the USA to Japan for petty much ANYTHING is pointless due to the massive cultural differences. As for prisons....it should be a warehouse for people who can NEVER be trusted in open society. Instead it's become a babysitter/free hotel for countless numbers that can't or won't integrate into society and function.
ReplyDeleteWhen looking at American jails and prisons, one cannot but come to the conclusion that it's not the system (that is wildly overloaded due to lack of mental institutes) but segments of society that are driving it.
ReplyDeleteGet rid of illegals. Literally. Get rid of them. Send them home or send them to El Salvador or Johnson Atoll. Our jails and prisons are full of illegal aliens.
Get rid of 'refugees' that are here 'legally.' We have lots of 'refugees' that are so scared of home that they travel back there yearly (often on our taxpayers' dime.) And they bring with them the same crimes they do back home.
After that, reinstate mental prisons. Seriously. Just because one is insane doesn't make the crime non-existent.
As to drug crimes? Well, facilities like Alligator Alcatraz but for low level drug crimes. Giant detox facilities. One chance, one chance only. Go back to using drugs then the next facility is, well, state or federal prisons. Be harsh as all get-out on druggies and drunks. Yes, drunks. Drinking too much does not eliminate one's guilt.
After that you can attack that certain part of society that does commit most of the crimes. And, curiously, are the ones pushing the 'crime lifestyle' and the 'prison lifestyle.' Hammer the living dogsnot out of those people. While trying to get that certain part of society that does commit most of the crimes to re-embrace 'white society's morals and mores.'
Make good use of those detox centers. Shackle junkies to the floor of long warehouses while going cold turkey and THEN march every 5th grade class through with a stern lecture after about the consequences of ANY drug use.
DeleteJapanese prisons also have a mostly homogeneous population. USA prisons have a very heterogeneous population.
ReplyDeleteI think we as a society are getting closer to an 'outside the box' type solution to the issue of imprisoning people. We are in the timeframe of Soylent Green and there is a whole world out there that is willing to take our vilest people if we send them along with a sack of dollars. We accept that we close the door on them when we do that. Nobody wants to hear the investigative reporters coming back from Devil's Island with some tall tale of horrific servitude. That was the social compact we are coming into alignment with.
ReplyDeleteSaw one tongue-in-cheek suggestion: build a facility for hardcore criminals. Once it is full, the next one to get convicted is sent to it, and the one who has been in the facility the longest gets executed.
Delete"The Japanese prison system" was covered succinctly and in exquisite detail by a JAG officer doing the Status Of Forces Agreement inbriefing on Okinawa circa 1986:
ReplyDelete1) Japanese prison is filled by a 99.98% conviction rate, because juries in Japan see a prosecutor's loses as "losing face". So they convict anyone charged, especially if you're gaijin (filthy foreigner).
2) Japanese prison consists of breaking large rocks into small ones using a sledgehammer, 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, for your entire sentence. There is no parole, no time off for good behavior. You will do every single day of your sentence. The position of rest is squatting. There is no sitting nor lying down.
3) They feed you fish heads and rice three times a day.
4) There's no TV, no library, and no weight pile. You wake up, you work your @$$ off, and you go back to sleep. Every day.
5) If you're gaijin, the Japanese prisoners despise you, and beat you up and steal your fish heads and rice. Every. Single. Meal.
6) The life expectancy of gaijin in Japanese prisons is thus less than 2 years.
The minimum sentence for felonies is five years.
You do the math there.
7) Do not do anything to get arrested in Japan.
So PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF SWEET BABY JESUS, can we please convert our prison system to one that matches Japan's?!?!?
I don't know if it is still this way, but in the 70s, if you went to jail in Japan, it was up to your family to feed you. Otherwise, it was fisheads and rice...
ReplyDeleteIn Korea that was how it was if you were admitted to hospital.
DeleteIt has been awhile, so I don't have the citation. According to one study, the chance of a kid going to jail is highest among those who had a parent go to jail. That was true even for children who never had contact with that parent.
ReplyDeleteSo one approach would be to offer sterilization as a way to reduce a person's time in prison.