Three decades of growth in America’s prison population has brought the nation to a sobering threshold: one in every 100 adults in the United States is now confined behind bars. The total prison population is now 2.3 million, the highest number in the world, followed by the much more populous nation of China with 1.5 million. The cost of maintaining the US prison system topped $49 billion in 2007, up from $12 billion in 1987. The figures speak for themselves. And considering the 80 percent recidivism rate, there is desperate need for a workable technology that delivers true and lasting rehabilitation of criminals who can become productive members of society.
The Criminon program operates in more than 2,100 penal institutions across some 38 nations. Staffed largely by volunteers, Criminon also trains the personnel of correctional institutions for delivery of on-site rehabilitation programs. Criminon services further extend to police departments, juvenile facilities and crime prevention programs—the full equation for a world without crime.
Police officers in Mexicali, Mexico, train on the program's centerpiece, entitled The Way to Happiness, the common sense moral code.
In Indonesian prisons running the Criminon program, recidivism fell to less than 2 percent.
L. Ron Hubbard discovered the key to true rehabilitation is restoring an individual’s self-respect. To assist inmates to do just that, Criminon students study and apply precepts of The Way to Happiness.
In Taiwan, as is the case throughout the world, drug-related offenses account for rising inmate populations. For that reason, the Criminon program includes a drug education component to help inmates understand and overcome addiction.
Criminon delivers programs in more than 50 South African facilities, from juvenile centers to maximum-security prisons.