# Have any methods of successfully rehabilitating criminals ever been discovered?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-methods-of-successfully-rehabilitating-criminals-ever-been-discovered/392755>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 19, 2007, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-methods-of-successfully-rehabilitating-criminals-ever-been-discovered/392755 "2007-02-19T00:49:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-methods-of-successfully-rehabilitating-criminals-ever-been-discovered/392755/21 "2007-02-19T16:50:07Z")

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[QUOTE=AHunter3]  
Just as a guess, I’d hazard that isolating them in a pool consisting of other lawbreakers, keeping them there for months or years on end, then releasing them with an official track record that makes subsequent legitimate employment difficult would _not_ be a resounding success.  
[/QUOTE]  
Years ago, I participated in a volunteer program where we got to go into a maximum security prison and talk to the men who were incarcerated there.

One of the inmates called the corrections system “crime school.”

For what it’s worth.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-methods-of-successfully-rehabilitating-criminals-ever-been-discovered/392755/22 "2007-02-19T16:58:07Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> One of the inmates called the corrections system “crime school.”

And not a very good one. All the teachers failed the subject. I always figure if you want to learn how to be a competent criminal, learn it from somebody who didn’t go to prison.

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