Jail Spa, another alternative to educate prisoners?

By: Gina Fazio

At Kajang Prison, a spa has been set up, but not for the inmates. This spa is run by the inmates who perform various spa treatments from facials to pedicures and even haircuts. These services are provided to the general public who wish to come to the "Jail Spa". The inmates hired to work in the spa are only those who have not committed violent offenses. They work for a small allowance and the rest goes to the prison to promote various rehabilitative programs such as a bakery and sewing classes.

What I ask myself is why don't American prisons do this? Perhaps at first the idea of a "Jail Spa" is laughable, but customers of this spa say that they feel safe and the chief inspector of the prison says that it teaches inmates valuable skill as well as how to interact/adapt to society. In America we have high recidivism rates simply because what ever we do in our prisons is not a powerful enough deterrent to make people not break the law. But perhaps getting a bigger stick isn't the answer. A lack of rehabilitation in our prison system might be detracting from the value of any jail sentence handed down in the United States.