Foucault's Carceral System and Drug Rehabilitation

Paper Summary:

In present society, drug abuse and rehabilitation are prominent. More often than not, offenders tend to spend their time in and out of rehabilitative programs which are supposed to cure them of their drug habit yet somehow fail. In much the same way, prisons are supposed to rehabilitate criminals into honest citizens, yet, this is usually not the case. This paper examines how Michel Foucault analyzes how this situation came about in "Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison". Foucault's analysis of the role of failure in the carceral system is apparent and clearly existing in today's drug rehabilitative programs.

From the Paper:

"Clearly, "detention causes recidivism" (p. 265) for a number of reasons. In the same way that delinquents in the prison system learn more about criminal activity, habitual drug abusers broaden their horizons when in contact with more experienced drug abusers. "The prison cannot fail to produce delinquents" (p. 266). The prison or rehabilitative center "should educate its inmates, but can a system of education addressed to man reasonably have as its object to act against the wishes of nature?" (p. 266). For a drug abuser, the need and desire to feel "high" becomes his primary urge. Only an extensive and in-depth personal education program would help control his behavior."

More papers on Foucault's Carceral System and Drug Rehabilitation:

• Research Paper # 92187 : "Drug Rehabilitation Progress and Treatment"
• Essay # 63969 : "Drug Rehabilitation Program"
• Essay # 46544 : "Michel Foucault's "Discipline and Punish"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: