What is the Purpose of Prison?

When someone commits a crime in this country, we lock them up—and we do it a lot. If you look at just the people who are incarcerated globally, a disproportionate number – 20 percent – are in American prisons. The U.S. criminal justice system was created to enforce laws, punish offenders, deter crime, and protect society. How well do prisons help accomplish those things? Current incarceration and recidivism rates suggest some room for improvement. Are there other options? In this podcast episode, we get perspectives on the effectiveness and purpose of prison from a man serving life for murder and a father whose son was murdered. We also look at how Norway’s prison system was reformed in the 1990s to lower prison violence and re-offense rates. Norwegian prisons today are focused on rehabilitation rather than punishment. A handful of US states are implementing Norwegian concepts, so we’ll speak with the superintendent of Oregon’s largest prison to understand how America might benefit from changing the role of incarceration in our justice system. Podcast Guests: Spoon Jackson, published poet, teacher, playwright, and inmate in the California state prison system Azim Khamisa, founder of the Tariq Khamisa Foundation and author of “From Murder to Forgiveness: A Father’s Journey” Tom Eberhardt, former guard and warden, senior adviser to the Norwegian Correctional Service, Norwegian Program Manager for Amend at UCSF Jamie Miller, Superintendent, Snake River Correctional Institution in Oregon **This episode is part of Season 3 on Top of Mind: Finding Fairness. From health and immigration to prisons and pot, how can we get more peace and prosperity for all?