Lock up

1 out of every 100 Americans are in prison.

1/36 hispanics
1/15 blacks

Experts say mandatory minimums, longer sentences in general, and less liberal parole guidelines have converged to create the worlds highest incarcerated population.

Meanwhile, crime rates remain stagnent and prison budgets have skyrocketed. In some states, like Oregon, more is spent on ‘corrections’ than higher education.

I mock the term ‘correction’ because it isn’t being applied. Our prison system today operates on the ‘lock up and forget the key’ premise. This is a far cry from the original intent of our nations correctional system: ‘to reform misguided souls.’

We have over 2 million of those in prison today; which should remind us that this statistic is reflective not only of our justice system, but also of our society. The latter is a topic too deep for a blog post, but it must be ackowledged nevertheless.

Our prisons though don’t seek to reform the people who get there. Reform isn’t a cure all, but it is a counter to the culture of crime; which prisons have been known to foster. They serve as an indoctrination into the criminal underworld, meaning that the prisoners who are released, are done so as more hardened and learned criminals instead of as reformed, productive members of society.

This feeds a cycle of crime and punishment. A cycle which has produced tougher sentencing and thus a higher incarceration rate — larger than even that of China’s. I say that is cause enough for reform, of the system and prisoner.