"In the Belly of the Beast" by Jack Abbott
“In the Belly of the Beast”
Imagine being 37 years old and spending 25 years of your life locked up, behind bars. “In the Belly of the Beast” is a collection of letters, told by Jack Henry Abbott, which expose the harsh realities of the Americas penal system. In translating Abbott’s experiences, he unveils that the current system has failed to keep dangerous criminals off the streets and that it has proved to be unsuccessful in creating a deterrent for committing crimes. According to the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics, “State courts in 32 counties across 17 States sentenced 79,000 felons to probation in 1986. Within 3 years of sentencing, while still on probation, 43% of these felons were rearrested for a felony. Half of the arrests were for a violent crime (murder, rape, robbery, or aggravated assault) or a drug offense (drug trafficking or drug possession).” This proves that the current system puts dangerous criminals back on the streets without being rehabilitated and that imprisonment is not a successful deterrent. Retributive punishment laws may be a morally acceptable response to crime. However, they do not correct the wrong or rehabilitate the individual(Gonzales).Abbott exposes that the American institutionalization systems are cruel and not sufficient for rehabilitation.
In the penal systems, prisoners are dehumanized, stripped over their human rights. Abbott explains that he was beaten, humiliated, and thrown into solitary for days for the slightest misbehavior. During his lifetime tenure he was in many fights, one in which he killed a fellow inmate in self-defense. As a result of this rendezvous, he was sentenced to a blackout cell, in which is a cell where no light enters the room, just absolute darkness for days. The cell was only equipped with a steal toilet and sink which could not be seen. There were bugs everywhere with no bed, just bare floor. He was fed threw a hole in the door and sentenced to a starvation diet in which he only
Imagine being 37 years old and spending 25 years of your life locked up, behind bars. “In the Belly of the Beast” is a collection of letters, told by Jack Henry Abbott, which expose the harsh realities of the Americas penal system. In translating Abbott’s experiences, he unveils that the current system has failed to keep dangerous criminals off the streets and that it has proved to be unsuccessful in creating a deterrent for committing crimes. According to the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics, “State courts in 32 counties across 17 States sentenced 79,000 felons to probation in 1986. Within 3 years of sentencing, while still on probation, 43% of these felons were rearrested for a felony. Half of the arrests were for a violent crime (murder, rape, robbery, or aggravated assault) or a drug offense (drug trafficking or drug possession).” This proves that the current system puts dangerous criminals back on the streets without being rehabilitated and that imprisonment is not a successful deterrent. Retributive punishment laws may be a morally acceptable response to crime. However, they do not correct the wrong or rehabilitate the individual(Gonzales).Abbott exposes that the American institutionalization systems are cruel and not sufficient for rehabilitation.
In the penal systems, prisoners are dehumanized, stripped over their human rights. Abbott explains that he was beaten, humiliated, and thrown into solitary for days for the slightest misbehavior. During his lifetime tenure he was in many fights, one in which he killed a fellow inmate in self-defense. As a result of this rendezvous, he was sentenced to a blackout cell, in which is a cell where no light enters the room, just absolute darkness for days. The cell was only equipped with a steal toilet and sink which could not be seen. There were bugs everywhere with no bed, just bare floor. He was fed threw a hole in the door and sentenced to a starvation diet in which he only
Cited: Breau of Justice Statictics. "Prison Statictics." 30 June 2007. U.S Department of Justice. 5 Dec. 2008 Byrne, James. Thinking your way out of prison (alternatives to imprisonment to prevent prison crowding).Spectrum: the Journal of State Government v66 (Fall 1993): p50(9). . Gonzales, Melissa. "Prison system Should Focus on Rehabilitating Criminals." New Mexico Daily Lobo. 1 Jan. 2008. The University of New Mexico. 5 Dec. 2008 . Humans Rights Watch. "US: Record Numbers for World’s Leading Jailer." 4 Dec. 2007. 5 Dec. 2008 . York, Jamie. "Prisons Need to Focus on Rehabilitating Inmates, Not on Warehousing Them." The Philosophy of Humanism. 26 Mar. 2004. 5 Dec. 2008 .