I was listening to a song by Dermott Kennedy while walking the track the other night and one of the lyrics caught my attention… during the first verse there is a line…”birds need a reason to sing”. I immediately started the track over (because you can’t rewind or fast forward the actual song on our MP3 players) so that I could listen to that section again. I started thinking about my recent experience in the SHU… which then launched into a couple laps of thinking about prison life in general… then a couple more laps about society as a whole and how prison is really just a microcosm of how we manage people in the real world. I was struck by the concept that for some reason… society (and certainly prisons) finds it necessary to “control” people by taking things away from them… limiting contact with loved ones… stripping them of certain rights in order to “maintain order”… solely relying on negative reinforcement and fear tactics. Why is this? Why is it acceptable for us to continue down this path of negative reinforcement when our recidivism rate is so high, our crime rates continue to climb and the number of incarcerated people in the US alone is absolutely sickening?
I think the unfortunate answer is that the criminal justice system is a business and “inmates” are the product but let’s put that aside for the time being and highlight the fact that we not only use this negative reinforcement inside these walls but also throughout our school systems… inside our homes through the way we parent and how we manage a team at our workplaces. I think we can all agree that there is some value in fear tactics when it relates to all of the above but I believe these practices only go so far in actually preventing negative behavior and certainly when it relates to promoting positive behavior. I believe that we are all much more inclined to be thoughtful in our actions and decisions when doing so would result in a positive outcome as opposed to a negative consequence. For example, I have spoken with countless guys in here regarding the fact that until the First Step Act came into the picture… there was almost no possibility of federal inmates having the chance for early release outside of their earned good time aka 15% of their total sentence. This creates an environment where guys are living in an already hostile space with no incentive to participate in productive programming, help other inmates through tutor programs, attend group meetings such as AA or religious/spiritual gatherings in order to feel a sense of connection outside of the realities of prison life. It breeds an attitude of hopelessness and resentment.
Now, think about if there were programs developed (such as those beginning to be implemented alongside the FSA) that would positively incentivize guys to productively work on themselves and their community in order to earn “rewards”. These could be everything from early release, more phone time, video visits, extra commissary spending ability, increased rec time, less strict movements throughout the day or anything else that would positively impact a guys life while in here. These things would actually create an environment of hope, drive and positivity because there is a goal… something to work towards as opposed to simply trying to avoid a negative consequence.
I believe that this notion of focusing on positive reinforcement as opposed to fear tactics is a crucial pivot that needs to take place within our criminal justice system in order to begin to see actual change. It is also a mindset and leadership quality that could greatly benefit our children at home as well as in the classroom and our employees in the workplace. At the end of the day…we all need a reason to want to better ourselves… and just like my song said… birds need a reason to sing… and so do we.