"When politicians talk about “family values,” they rarely mention the importance
of family to prisoners. Most inmates will eventually be released. Some will
quickly return to crime. Those who have been regularly visited by family members
are less likely to recidivate. "
The whole issue around prisons and prisoners is a difficult one I think. If the purpose of the jail system is to reform the prisoner so that he or she may then become a member of society when they are released, steps like this seem counter productive. What you are doing is breaking the bonds that this person has with their family members and replacing it with a bond with other prisoners. It doesn't seem like an accident then that once they are released they are more prone to the activity of the group that they have the closest bond with, prisoners, and not the people that they have been alienated from, their friends and family.
I know in America it is unpopular to talk about prisoners as if they are people. The assumption among most of the population seems to be that they are just paying the price for their crimes. I understand that feeling and have similar feelings in a number of cases. However, many of them will become citizens again, and warehousing them for a set number of years in a violent environment doesn't do anything to make sure that they are better citizens when they get out than when they went in.
For this direct issue, perhaps they could make it the policy of the jails that they would only transfer people out of state if they are serving life sentences and will not be getting out. It doesn't make that much of a difference if they are not going to be released back into society.
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