Correctional success is usually defined as reduced recidivism, where programs aimed at changing thoughts and attitudes to ‘fix’ people might be shown to reduce the likelihood that those people return to prison. This deficits-based approach has limited what could be achieved in our correctional system. Equally important, it places the weight of achieving correctional success on criminal justice agents and institutions. Left out are a number of social institutions that could provide critical resources and support to enable long-term desistance.
If we instead conceive of correctional success as a ‘better-than-arrival,’ strengths-based, holistic focus on increasing the well-being of people who live and work in correctional facilities, then we can expand the challenge and possible solutions beyond criminology and criminal justice.
Institutions of higher education could assume an increased importance in a reimagined correctional system designed to enhance well-being. This presentation describes the design and demonstration site implementation of the Arizona State University (ASU) POINT Model (Potential, Opportunity, Investment, Nurture, and Transformation). The POINT Model invests in people who live and work in prison using university resources to enhance social, economic, cultural, emotional, educational, and overall well-being.
Our work at ASU—an institution repeatedly ranked first in the United States for innovation and driven by a charter to measure ourselves by whom we include and how they succeed—can set an example for a new future for corrections in partnership with institutions of higher education.
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Kevin Wright PhD
Director, Arizona State University Center for Correctional Solutions, Arizona State University, United States
Kevin A. Wright is an associate professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and director of the Center for Correctional Solutions at Arizona State University. He earned his Ph.D. in criminal justice from Washington State University in 2010. His work focuses on enhancing the lives of people living and working in the correctional system through research, education, and community engagement. Dr. Wright developed and taught the first Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program class in the state of Arizona and is a co-founder of the Arizona Transformation Project—a learning community of faculty, students, and people who are incarcerated. He was awarded the Washington State University Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology Distinguished Alumni Award in 2022, the American Society of Criminology Teaching Award in 2020, and the Arizona State University Faculty Women's Association Outstanding Faculty Mentor in 2019. Dr. Wright is co-author, alongside a man incarcerated for life, of the book Imprisoned Minds: Lost Boys, Trapped Men, and Solutions from Within the Prison, with a production date of December of 2024 from Rutgers University Press.
