Imprisonment
is a kind of punitive reaction, its object being primarily to deprive the
offender of his liberty. There are several negative effects of imprisonment, as
given below:-
1) Prisonisation:-The prisoner is
introduced to a new environment with its own culture. From a human being
bearing personal characteristics he is converted into a mere impersonal entity,
his name i.; replaced by a number. His clothes, food and leisure hours are same
as of the fellow prisoners - he isa unit to be processed by prison staff and
the prisoner is perceived as a job, rather than as a person. This results in
the social debasement of the convict in his own eyes.
2) Effects on family relations:-The prison
damages the family life of the convict, because of very few contacts with the
family members. Many legal systems recognizes imprisonment as a ground of
divorce.
3) Hardening of criminals:- The negative
attitude of prison staff (break rather than remake a person), results in the
prisoner developingmore hostile anti-social attitudes after his release from
the jail. Also, contact with the other criminals in jail do no good to him and
he may become engaged in gambling and deviant sexual behaviour .
4) Convict bogey:- The real punishment for the
prisoner begins after leaving the jail. The stigma attached to such
imprisonment, makes his rehabilitation difficult, as society continue to see
him as a criminal. He is thus forced to take the same criminal activities
again, because no other option is left for him.
Courtesy:-
Legal Point Foundation
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