Thinking Beyond the Prison Cell
From Arnold Ventures:
“If we’re doing something that doesn’t make us safer, then why are we doing it?” said Arthur Rizer, director of criminal justice and civil liberties at the R Street Institute, a center-right think tank. “Why are we doing things that we know don’t make us safer? They actually make us less safe. And then we act all surprised about it.”
Rizer, a former prosecutor and police officer and leader in the criminal justice reform movement, believes that prisons should be designed to meet the goals of the criminal justice system — and while punishment can be one of those goals, it should not be the goal.
“We have to understand that the way you think of human dignity is not being reflected in our criminal justice system. It’s just not,” Rizer said. “We treat them like animals and surround them in a toxic environment and then we’re surprised when they come out worse than how they started.”
