Does being in jail rehabilitate or institutionalize nimates Essay

Does being in jail rehabilitate or institutionalize nimates - Essay Example As asserted by Red Redding from the film: â€Å"These walls are funny. First you hate them, then you get used to them, until it gets to you depend on them. Thats institutionalized† (Voegele, n.d., par. 2). The current discourse hereby aims to reflect on the events that transpired in the lives of prisoners in the film, Shawshank Redemption and to respond to the question: Does being in jail rehabilitate or institutionalize inmates? One hereby affirms that the effect of being in jail could either be to rehabilitate or institutionalize inmates, depending on the length of time that these prisoners have been confined in jail, as well as the expected life there still is outside prison walls. The justice system has been observed to be designed in such a way that prisoners who committed a crime and were found to have made major violations of the law would be accorded the chance to be transformed, rehabilitated and reintegrated in society. One’s assertion is that rehabilitation would only be deemed successful when some factors or conditions are present: perceiving an optimistic and productive life after prison and having support systems (housing, health care, and employment). These factors were summed by Voegele (n.d.) as the presence of hope. As such, one of the major characters in the film, Andy Dufresne, remained steadfast in faith and hope that he would someday get out of the prison walls and leave a quiet and peaceful life in a little obscure place in Mexico. Prison, for Andy, would be a means of rehabilitation: a chance to reflect on the life where hard work insitutionalized him. Concurrently, there were prisoners who knew nothing about the outside world as most of their adult lives have been spent in prison. From various studies and discourses, and from observing the lives of prisoners in Shawshank Redemption, there were psychological effects of imprisonent which could be described in the concept of institutionalization. It could therefore be inferred that