Isn't prison just a "school of criminology"?

If a person wants to learn how to do something- they find the knowledge. Whether it’s in prison, a library or from trial and error is up to the person.

well it sure isn’t rehabbing them…

What exactly do you expect when hundreds or thousands of criminals are stuck in a building with eachother for years?
You think they’re sharing recipes?

edit: Also, criminology is ”the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society.” Not ”How to commit crimes better”.

You can blame google as well, I am sure that there’s some FAQ around that explain how to crack whatever safe.

@Sarcasm Actually yes. I would think a tasty recipe for toilet hooch is hard to come by.

having worked for them I can say with much confidence, the answer to your question is yes.

Yes. Prisoners need a real education so they have alternatives to crime when they get out. They also need to be hooked up with law-abiding citizenry, or it is too easy to get back into old habits.

@wonderingwhy Exactly – This would all fit in with the statistics of criminals who actually stay/continue to be criminals even after they “get out”.

I think part of the problem is finding a happy medium – where criminals suffer for what they’ve done but get out with a reasonable opportunity to improve and leave the “old life behind”. You can’t quite cut it these days working at Micky-D’s and they have a hard time finding a job that provides sufficient income. The incentive for quick cash increases and it’s back to square one.

@john65pennington As I’ve stated before, until the underlying causes of criminal behaviour are addressed, criminals will not change their decisions that they make. We are contributing to the problem by the way our system is set up. however, i have some math to do and can’t hang around to expound today. Google Dr. David Lykken ”...a controversial cure” or something. There are all kinds of contributing factors, but until they are addressed, the problem will remain. And when a felon does get out? What options does he/she have? Precious few.
Gotta run.

im not taking advise from some dude who got caught.. thats just stupid. its more like myspace for criminals, your just meeting new people but you’d be a fool to take the advise of a man or people that got caught. think about how that conversation would go.

I agree with most everything said here. I truly believe that where there’s a will, there’s a way. If someone wants to learn how to do something illegal they’ll learn it anywhere from Google to jail to libraries to television. Maybe if there was something to keep people in jails busy (not necessarily making license plates) like classes, therapy, imposed quiet hours, there would be something more to talk about.

Sometimes prisons are the only way to keep the public safe. But often it’s more like a college for advanced criminal careers. We need more alternatives. I’ve heard Missouri is quite creative.