U.S. Prison Myth vs. Mayhem

    This article spoke on the inefficiency of prisons in the United States. The “goal” of sending people to prison is to punish them for their wrongdoings by taking away their liberty. This concept certainly works for little kids, but it doesn’t work for grown men (and women). What tends to happen to inmates in these prisons are nothing short of negative. They either become more hardened from the presence of other inmates and they become more vulnerable through acts of violence and rape. The article goes on to say that prisons act only as a holding place for criminals, they do not make them change their behavior. If anything, they reinforce it through putting them with bad company. There is no easy solution to fix this problem. The article does mention sending inmates convicted of non-violent crimes to community rehabilitation centers. This, if anything, is a better solution than simply sending them where killers are. If inmates aren’t a threat to society, meaning they are non-violent, then they can rehabilitate in a community center. This would lower prison overcrowding as well as yield better results for the inmate. Inmates who are sent to these centers would not be in bad company, and would actually receive support from people focused on helping them. As mentioned in the article, correction facility officers cannot protect inmates from other inmates and certainly can’t help them. This problem can be erased for non-violent inmates if they are sent to facilities other than prison. Another problem mentioned with prisons is the cost to uphold them and the prisoners. Prison facilities are expected to yield decent living conditions but this is often not the case. Prisons are over crowded and they aren't suitable for living. Costs to repair or build prisons can go into the billions. Add that with prisoner expenses and it gets very expensive. Each inmate costs thousands of dollars a year to take care of. All of that cash comes from tax payers. This money is essentially being thrown away because the prisoners aren’t changing. They simply go back to crime. This makes rehabilitation centers all the more appealing because they offer an alternate solution for punishment. They are constructive and not destructive. If liberty is to be taken away something must be done to help the inmate change. It is obvious through the behavior of inmates that putting them in prison doesn’t teach them anything. Tax payer’s money will be put to better use if prisoners were actually changing for the better through the money spent on them. The prison system, if left unaltered, will continue to yield more dangerous inmates and will be a waste of tax payer money.