Support Rehabilitative Programs for Inmates of ALL Ages!

According to the Population Reference Bureau, the incarceration rates within the United States are higher than any country in the entire world. If inmates could receive better mental and emotional support in prison, would more than half of inmates continue to end up incarcerated five years after being released? Is there a way we can decrease these incarceration rates through improving our prison system, and in turn have a more safe and healthy country?

The Reforming Alternatives to Incarceration and Sentencing to Establish a Better Path for Youth Act of 2017, also known as the RAISE Act of 2017 (H.R.67), is a bill that is attempting to implement rehabilitative programs to help support incarcerated youth twenty-one years of age or younger that have committed a non-violent crime. These programs work to implement skill building, education and quality mental and emotional health support for youth. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, out of approximately 2.3 million inmates in the United States prison system; 34,000 of them are youth under twenty-one years of age. 64% of all prison inmates, which are commonly adults, are severely struggling with treatable mental illnesses including but not limited to: depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress. This leaves a large portion of inmates untouched by this policy.

Signing this petition will help expand and improve the RAISE Act in order to support the health of inmates of all ages despite crime committed; which in turn, has the power to not only create positive change, but can inspire a higher level of awareness in regards to improvements that need to be made within United States prison system.

The NASW Social Work Code of Ethics is one that values the worth and dignity of each person. At times it may feel difficult to wonder why, or what, inmates have done to deserve access to rehabilitative programs; and in the end everyone will have their own definitions of justice; but in the pursuit of being integrous, valuing the worth and dignity of each person is a form of justice that becomes determined by the attempt to positively empower people with all different types of history’s, to become better versions of themselves. Making improvements within the prison system to serve all inmates, is in line with NASW Social Work Code of Ethics, for it offers an opportunity to challenge inhumane treatment and social injustice for those that are commonly unheard.