Prisons are not only intended to detain prisoners, but also to rehabilitate them and transform them into productive members of society. Although it appears that prisons are not doing their job properly, most prisons, due to budget constraints or corrupt officials, do not attempt to rehabilitate them. They serve their sentence and then are thrown back into the world, worse criminals than before. The prison system, in its current form, is flawed. It is almost impossible to truly rehabilitate someone after prison. The prison system, as it exists now, has been around for a long time. Only recently it became faulty. Recidivism rates, or the tendency to relapse into a previous type of unwanted behavior, especially crime, are at an all-time high. Recidivism is as common as a person going to prison for the first time. Crime is on the rise, but due to crowding and violence within the system, prisoners are not learning what they should or getting the help they need. Then, when they are released, they usually continue to commit crimes and end up back in the place that was supposed to prevent them from committing them again. Violence is a serious problem in most traditional prisons. Many people end up in prison for petty crimes, but to survive they must toughen up and live a harsher lifestyle than they ever imagined. Many prisoners are willing to kill, deal drugs and other crimes. Due to the worsening of conditions in prisons, rehabilitation programs are almost non-existent. Worse than the prisoner violence is the complete disregard of the prisoners by the guards and staff. Once a prisoner leaves prison you might think that he will be given help to reintegrate into society. It's not like that. “Ninety-five pe... middle of paper...bilitated. If the prison system remained in its current state, we as a country would be worse off. How can we say we are the greatest country in the world if we don't try to help all our citizens succeed? Works Cited Falk, Julie. “Tax freeze”. Dollars and meaning. July-August. 2003: 19+. SIRS researcher. Network. March 24, 2011.Johnson, Kevin. “Isolation doesn't pay”. USA TODAY. June 14, 2010: A1. SIRS researcher. Network. March 23, 2011.Lawrence, Alison. “Exit strategy for parolees.” State legislatures. June 2010: 20. SIRS researcher. Network. March 21, 2011.Sterngold, James. “The worst of the worst”. Mother Jones. July-August. 2008: 48-53. Dear Researchers. Network. 24 March 2011. Wood, Graeme. “Prison without walls”. Atlantic Monthly. September 2010: 86-96. SIRS researcher. Network. March 21, 2011.Benson, Etienne. “rehabilitate or punish”. Monitor. July 2003: 46 web. April 17 2011.