Question 7
ComprehensionJAMB 1983 Passage II: Work for prisoners
Is work for prisoners a privilege to save them from the demoralizing effects and misery of endless unoccupied hour? Is it something added to a prison sentence to make it harder an more unpleasant, or something which should have a positive value as part of a system of rehabilitation?
Those magistrates who clung to sentences of hard labour doubtless looked upon strenuous work as an additional punishment. This point of view is widely accepted as right and proper, but it ignores the fact that unwillingness to work is often one of the immediate causes of criminality . To send prisoners back to the outside world, more than ever convinced that labour is an evil to be avoided, is to confirm them in their old way of life.
It has been said that the purpose of prison work in a programme of rehabilitation is twofold: training for work and training by work. The prisoner, that is to say, needs to be trained in habits of industry; but over and above this, he will gain immeasurably if it is possible to rouse in him the consciousness of self-mastery and of purpose that the completion of any worthwhile piece of work can give to the doer. He may find a pride of achievement in something more satisfying, and more socially desirable, than crime. But these things can only come when the work itself has a purpose and demands an effort.
Those magistrates who clung to sentences of hard labour doubtless looked upon strenuous work as an additional punishment. This point of view is widely accepted as right and proper, but it ignores the fact that unwillingness to work is often one of the immediate causes of criminality . To send prisoners back to the outside world, more than ever convinced that labour is an evil to be avoided, is to confirm them in their old way of life.
It has been said that the purpose of prison work in a programme of rehabilitation is twofold: training for work and training by work. The prisoner, that is to say, needs to be trained in habits of industry; but over and above this, he will gain immeasurably if it is possible to rouse in him the consciousness of self-mastery and of purpose that the completion of any worthwhile piece of work can give to the doer. He may find a pride of achievement in something more satisfying, and more socially desirable, than crime. But these things can only come when the work itself has a purpose and demands an effort.
Which of these is NOT the purpose of work in a programme of rehabilitation?
- A.Training the prisoners to have satisfaction in work
- B.Developing in them a pride in sense of achievement
- C.Developing in them more satisfaction in work than in crime
- D.Helping them to accelerate their reform and discharge
- E.Training them for work and by work
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: D (Helping them to accelerate their reform and discharge)
Explanation
The passage mentions training, a sense of purpose and pride in work, but says nothing about speeding up prisoners' release.