ABSTRACT
This chapter uses knowledge from social neuroscience to propose a drastic rethinking of the prison system. It aims to utilize this neuroscientific perspective to illustrate why common features of the prison system (i.e., punitiveness, social exclusion, isolation and poor environments) may be extremely damaging for the brain and behavior and can consequently pose a serious risk to an individual’s progress toward positive change and reintegration into the community. Based on a review of this body of neuroscientific studies, the chapter offers several suggestions for embracing this body of knowledge to reform the prison model at both practical and theoretical levels. These suggestions range from transforming the prison environment to abolishing or, at least, radically reforming solitary confinement. Finally, the chapter emphasizes the compatibility of the insights from social neuroscience with the tenets of social rehabilitation.
