While I've always know that the U.S. prison population was huge, I was shocked to learn that it dwarfs all others. We have more people locked up behind bars than anywhere else in the world. China has population 4 times bigger, but is a distant second--of course there are thousands of people in detention for political activisism. At 2.3 million people in prisons, the U.S. has 751 people in prison for every 100,000 people. This surprised me as our news has often carried stories of imprisonment in China.
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| Inmates locked in cages in a max security prison |
While the intention of incarceration is meant to punish, I have to wonder whether we are perpetuating an endless cycle. I have done a lot of work in prisons and have often been told by inmates that prisons are where they learn how to become hardcore criminals. One inmate told me that prisons are like graduate school for crime. Prisoners have become institutionalized, often returning regularly.
Once a person goes into the system, the liklihood of him returning is disturbingly high. If someone with a record does want to do right, he is up against challenging odds. He tries to get re-integrated with a society that has passed him by. Many inmates who've been locked up for long periods of time aren't even able to use cellphones. I can't imagine an hour with our my Blackberry, I can't imagine not being able to navigate in these rapidly changing-technology obsessed times. How does one who is so far behind catch up and hope to become a productive member of society. .
Not to mention the fact that the prison industry is a multi-billion dollar one. Private prisons are popping up everywhere to house the huge numbers of people getting lock up. If we reduce the number of people going to jail, we'd hurt a lot of companies. And wouldn't that be un-American?
