Before the event, I barely have an idea of how the prison looks like, and what kind of prison suit criminals. After the speech given, I not only have an introductory understanding of how the prison works but also appreciate the struggle between punishment and education to prevent recidivism.
The speaker showed different kinds of prisons all over the world, and compare all their data to show the efficiency of reeducating a man. Some prisons are just as people imagined, chaos, danger, dirty, lack of human dignity, deprivation of freedom, etc. Some new experimental prisons are on the contrary, clean, relatively free, and maintains a nice relationship between prison guards and prisoners.
The speaker says, people who live in a dirty dangerous prison felt hard to become normal after they are released from it, and are more likely to become recidivism. This is because the prison treats them so different from the normal society, that they no longer function well. Draw from the famous film “The Shawshank Redemption”, the prisoner who got out after several decades cannot pee without other’s orders. People who come out of prison also lack the ability to live alone, they have no skills and not knowledge to suit any job in the world.
So the speaker provides another option, “A no wall prison.” A prison set in Sweden provides the most freedom to the prisoners. They can order their food, earn money with their own efforts, play basketball with prison guards, and start their own business in prison. They have everything exactly like the outside world except their freedom is limited. However, in such a condition, prisoners are able to learn the right way to live, and some of them even start their own restaurant in prison which has become a popular one in town. When those prisoners left the prison, they already deeply appreciate the healthy way of living, and some of them even come back to the prison to thank everything it did to them. The prison is more like a special school that cures the adults who got on the wrong way, rather than a horrible punishment camp that brings people pain.
Although everything looks great in the new prison, people doubt that it is fair to provide such a good environment for the prisoners, and the criminals didn’t pay the price for the crimes they made. I hope I can find a balance in those issues, just like every other tough question in the world. The balance between class and rest, balance between country development and environmental pollution, balance between social warfare and high tax. I hope I am able to find the right balance for things to contribute to a more sustainable society.