Two Ohio prison practitioners with decades of experience inside correctional institutions are asking whether prisons could improve public safety and rehabilitation by looking beyond the behavior that brought inmates to prison and examining the realities that shaped their lives before prison. They call this examination Root-Cause Rehabilitation.
Willie Davis and Jeff Hunsaker, who have worked years behind bars with inmates, say prisons by their nature deal with the effects of crime, not the causes. They are not researchers, clinicians, psychologists, or academics, but their work has led them to two hypotheses: lasting internal change begins when inmates willingly start facing the realities that brought them to prison, and inmates who experience such change can become positive influences within a prison's informal culture.
The pair is inviting correctional leaders and independent researchers to examine whether their hypotheses deserve formal investigation. They suggest that instead of waiting until shortly before release to help prepare someone to live differently, a meaningful opportunity could begin years earlier to face possible childhood trauma, rejection, abandonment, fear, shame, distorted beliefs, or other realities that shaped the choices that brought them to prison.
Davis and Hunsaker have also developed reading content specifically for inmates. Their novels and short stories are intended to invite inmates to examine their own lives and the realities that shaped them, an important consideration in their primary hypothesis.
Prisons cannot change the realities that brought an inmate to prison, but they may have an opportunity to help inmates face those realities and begin living differently while still incarcerated. Davis and Hunsaker wonder whether that possibility deserves closer examination and are asking if anyone wants to wonder with them.
The implications could be significant for correctional systems grappling with the dual mission of protecting public safety and rehabilitating inmates. If the hypotheses hold, early, voluntary root-cause work could reduce recidivism and improve prison culture, offering a low-cost complement to existing programs. The practitioners are seeking independent researchers and correctional leaders interested in examining their hypotheses through The Kronos Project, an initiative they developed. More information is available at www.kronosproject.net.
