Inmate Rehabilitation Revisited: Using Goffman and Perrow to Explain Constraints on Transformational Technologies in Prison

Abstract

Informed by the work of sociologists Erving Goffman and Charles Perrow, the author focuses on the perspective that prison inmates are human material that get exposed to transformational technologies (educational and medical). Some constraints (environment and resources) on these technologies are discussed in relation to rehabilitation and recidivism. The emphasis here is on the internal limits of prisons’ ability to transform human behavior and attitude. This, however, is not intended to underestimate the external constraints which, in fact, get discussed throughout this paper. The author agrees with those who believe that the best rehabilitation design is structured around evidence-based programs that prepare inmates for reentry to, and full citizenship in, society.