In a 1985 issue of Texas Monthly, Dick Reavis discussed How They Ruined Our Prisons at great lengths. Specifically, he discussed the conditions of American prisons in general and, more specifically, the conditions of the Texas prison system. In this, he acknowledged that the prison system wasn’t ideal and that it made little, if any, effort at rehabilitating convicted offenders. However, in the same breath, he argued that it is not the State’s responsibility (and in particular, the responsibility of taxpaying citizens) to finance rehabilitation programs.

After reading the article, please discuss your opinion of offender rehabilitation programs.

• Using a real-life example, either someone personally known to you or someone that you read about in the news, discuss the following:
  • How rehabilitation programs can provide offenders with the advantages commonly associated with reform efforts
  • How rehabilitation programs can fail and what could be done differently to better help offender rehabilitation efforts