Read them their rights

     Overcrowding is one of the major problems facing prisons today. One solution put forward by some is to instate early release programs. Prisoners who are well behaved or attend classes can sometimes accumulate days to be taken off of their sentence. Such programs vary from state to state and prison to prison. Recently, Brazil announced a novel addition to their early release program. In an effort to both decrease the current prison population and to cut back on recidivism, prisoners committing further crimes once they are released, Brazil has started a program in its federal prisons to allow prisoners to shave days off of their sentence by reading books.

     You may be wondering why they are instituting such a plan. Simply put, Brazil needs to make room in their prisons, which recent reports show that they are at 166% capacity, and growing. Under the plan those serving time can cut off four days from their sentence, up to a maximum of 48 days per year, for every book they read and proper book report they submit. However, you may be thinking to yourself, "Giving prisoners time off for just reading and writing, what is that supposed to accomplish?"

     The main goal of the program is to give the inmates the chance to gain a different perspective on the outside. “A person can leave prison more enlightened and with an enlarged vision of the world,” said Andre Kehdi, a Brazilian lawyer who leads a book donation program for prisoners. Also, a study in Britain found that long periods of isolation and a lack of mental stimulus can contribute to, "poor mental health and led to intense feelings of anger, frustration, and anxiety.” Not attributes you would like to cultivate in a captive population.

     As the project is a new one, it remains to be seen if it will be effective. However, it does focus on one aspect of serving a jail sentence that is often overlooked, rehabilitation. Yes, almost all people in jail deserve to be there, but hopefully through programs such as this, maybe they can be turned into productive members of society while they pay their debt to it.
   




1. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/brazilian-inmates-offered-reduced-sentences-for-reading-books/article4385621/
2. http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/14/world/americas/brazil-alternative-sentence-reduction/index.html
3. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America-Monitor/2012/0716/Brazil-s-solution-to-prison-overcrowding-time-off-for-reading-books