Prison, Redemption, and One Woman’s Fight to Restore Justice to All

Dreams from the Monster Factory: A Tale of Prison, Redemption, and One Woman’s Fight to Restore Justice to All, by Sunny Schwartz and David Boodell, tells Sunny Schwartz’s experience with the criminal justice system and her conviction that those who are imprisoned can transform for the better. The focus of the book is the intricate architecture of US prisons and the surrounding activities, such as acts of anger and violence. The author’s launch of the “Resolve to Stop the Violence Project” (RSVP), which is targeted at San Francisco, is the most significant part, though. The RSVP was particularly aimed at helping inmates to become better at managing their violent behavior are reducing recidivism while the program has been largely successful, costly challenges characterized its implementation.

The RSVP was an initiative that was instituted by Schwartz who is also the director of the program. The project has enabled the realization of many goals in the California Criminal System because it operates under the principle of restorative practices. It entails various processes such as groups discussions, creative writing, and academic classes that are done in partnership with the Sheriff’s Department in San Francisco and target to improve the welfare of those victimized in the jails (Schwartz and Boodell 76). It achieves this objective though playing a key role in theatrical enactments, role-playing, counseling the subjects and engaging in meaningful and constructive discussions with those who survive violence in the prisons.

Considering the development of the RSVP, it is noted that the first programs that were initiated by the Department were targeting the education and the addiction treatment processes. The RSVP was opened in 1997, and it was started with 62 of the most notorious prisoners who were categorized as pimps, murders, and wife beaters. The strategy that was used was that half of the targeted population had chosen to be part of the prison while another half had been assigned. The founding programs were successful because it became possible to transform the inmates in the correctional institutions and they were able to integrate seamlessly into the society. However, early in the implementation is was noted that there was a problem related to addressing the problem directly. Schwartz cited that despite the fact that the jails were full of men who had committed crimes, none of the programs that had been instituted was targeted at addressing the challenges that the inmates had, and if there were any, they were not as direct as they ought to have been. The problem prompted Schwartz to start the program to enable the offenders to change their behavior. There are many examples to justify the fact that the initiatives that were formulated were effective in the end. One particular cases involved Ben, a nineteen year of who was a drug addict whose preferences were heroin and methamphetamine. He had been imprisoned for beating up a homosexual and argued that he was not violent. However, he was required to try out the dorm for three weeks, in which case he complied and was able to control his language. After almost being expelled for grow misconduct, he changed, and when a new Latino was brought to him, he was calm and appeared friendly as opposed to being violent as he had been in the past (Schwartz and Boodell, p. 188).

The idea behind the formation of the RSVP is that it was aimed at working with other programs that existed to ensure the realization of the intended objectives. One particular case of its collaborative effect was to ensure that it remained functioning as a MANNALVE Violence Intervention Program that targeted to ensure that men’s behavior was changed through engaging them in rigorous processes where they self-examine themselves and enable them to undergo peer education. The inmates would then have to participate in the activities several times in a day before they could be confirmed to have been transformed. The principle of the RSVP was also aimed at working in tandem with the victim-impact initiative through the use of victim classes to confront the results of their violent activities. One particular example that involved the success of this initiative was the consideration of Richard’s case who had been convicted as a murderer. Richard was a homeless man who convicted of murder was shown the photos of the crime, they were quiet considering they were being tested on their response to the MANNALVE Violence Intervention Program. The reaction that they portrayed of being respectful, quiet and careful was enough proof that the self-examination program was working and was truly effective (Schwartz and Boodell 45).

The program has, however, witnessed both successes and failures in the process of its implementation. There are vast examples of its success since its implementation with the combined effect of the positive outcomes of the program being perceived in the perspective of the positive outcomes from the collaboration with other initiatives. It is argued reported that RSVP’s success is largely attributed to the attention that the originators gave the program early in its implementation warrant that it would give positive results from the start. For example, it has since been reported that the implementation of the program resulted in a reduction of violence by about 100 percent. It is further reported that the post-release recidivism rate for those who were released from the prisons having undergone the RSVP had reduced a minimum of 46.3 percent (Schwartz and Boodell 8). However, the glaring challenge that has since been identified is related to the fact that it is a costly process basing on the need to cater for the welfare needs of the counselors and the criminals in humane ways. For example, according to Schwartz it is undisputed that the initiative resulted in the lowering of costs because of the reduction in violent recidivism. However, the reality is that the immediate costs were hoer and the program implementation was costly despite the fact that it resulted in positive outcomes.

In summary, it is worth outlining that even though the RSVP has positively been instrumental in the reduction of crimes related to violence and lowered recidivism rate, the challenges have been as a result of the high costs. Overall though, it is argued that the program has been instrumental in lowering the problem of violence in the prisons because fewer people tend to go back to their evil ways after going through the initiative. Thus, despite the fact that it was initiated long time ago, the RSVP has still remained relevant thanks to the aggressive nature in which it has been implemented over the years

Works Cited

Schwartz, Sunny, and David Boodell. Dreams from the Monster Factory: A Tale of Prison, Redemption, and One Woman’s Fight to Restore Justice to All. London: Library of Congress Cataloguing-In-Publication, 2010. Print.