JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) – Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson says prisons aren’t doing a good job of rehabilitating inmates and there needs to be more programs to prevent people from going there in the first place.
Tyson spoke Thursday at a conference on prisoner re-entry hosted by former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey in Jersey City.
He says prison is debilitating, not rehabilitating, and the criminal justice system is a disgrace.
Tyson was jailed in 1992 for rape and went to jail in 1999 on assault charges.
Speaking after Tyson, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman noted his office’s launch of Project Renew in Newark, where parolees can obtain housing, jobs, education, counseling and legal assistance.