Mike Tyson says more must be done for prisoner re-entry

JERSEY CITY, New Jersey — Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson gave the keynote address Thursday at a conference on prisoner re-entry, saying that the prison system isn't doing a good job of rehabilitating inmates and that there needs to be more programs to prevent people from going there in the first place.

Tyson, who has been jailed twice, spoke at the conference at St. Peter's University in Jersey City.

"There's no such thing as rehabilitation. Prison is all debilitating. When you go in there, you never come out the same person again," Tyson said. "This is something a nation of savages would look at as something of a disgrace."

Tyson spoke about his troubled past but said, "I'm on the course of being the person I want to be. I have dignity. I have self-respect."

Tyson was jailed in 1992 for rape and went to jail in 1999 on assault charges.