A Rant About Why Prisons in America are Seriously Messed Up

Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert on the American prison system. I am simply sharing facts and opinions that I have accumulated so that more people are exposed to this issue.

Many people seem to know that there is a problem with our prison system and that prison overcrowding is a thing however they are unsure of the extent to which the American prison system is seriously messed up. The following data will shed a little more light onto the issue.

Looking at the table to the right we 

can conclude that even if our incarceration rate is cut in half we would still be the third most incarcerated country in the world. This calls for a serious need for prison reform.

The graphs to the left and below represent how the crime rate has been decreasing over the course of almost 25 years yet the incarceration rate has been increasing over the same course of time. Pay close attention to how the crime rate graph starts in the 90s and the prison population graph has a sharp increase at around the same time.  

Maybe these next statistics will give us insight into why the above graphs are so contradictory. 

  

Black men do not deserve to have over a thirty percent chance of going to jail; and Latino men do not deserve to have over a 16 percent chance of going to jail. All of these ratios are way too high; but the most cringe worthy part is the race and gender factors. The extent of this discrimination is disgusting to say the least. We are solely arresting people because of the color of their skin. Although this conclusion is debatable, it is still necessary to expose people to these statistics. 

An increase in incarceration rates results in an increase in detrimental effects (NPR):

• conversion of gymnasiums into prisons for people who violate their parole conditions
• conversion of double bunked beds into triple bunked beds
• segregation and racism: The showers and toilets are divided among race and inmates are “forced” to comply 
• No room for rehabilitation
• Repeated offenders: “82.1 percent of released property offenders arrested for a new crime compared with 76.9 percent of drug offenders, 73.6 percent of public order offenders and 71.3 percent of violent offenders” (National Institute of Justice)

Psychological Effects:

• The findings of Stuart Grassian, a former faculty member of Harvard's Medical School, represent how about a third of solitarily confined prisoners were “actively psychotic and/or acutely suicidal”
• Grassian also found that some inmates formed obsessions and lost their ability to be alert
• The only time inmates are touched is when a guard puts handcuffs on them so they are never touched in a loving or friendly way again
• Craig Haney a professor at UC Santa Cruz found that prisoners in solitary confinement “lose the ability to initiate or to control their own behavior, or to organize their own lives.”

Inmates may be given treatment or put into rehabilitation programs but they are minimally effective. For example, this is what group therapy may look like:
 

Inmates are forced to sit in confined cages during therapy. Although this is an attempt at rehabilitation it dehumanizes the inmates. How is this effective?




Then there is the problem of mentally ill people in prisons:



Quotes on the mentally ill in prisons:

• “Such individuals are often raped or otherwise victimized, disproportionately held in solitary confinement, and frequently attempt suicide. Because treatment of mental illness is often not available behind bars, symptoms often get worse, sometimes leading to self-mutilation” (tracreports).

• “In New York, a man with schizophrenia was in prison for 15 years, 13 years of which were spent in solitary confinement. In a Minnesota county jail, a man with schizophrenia blinded himself with a pencil while ‘standing naked in his cell, standing in his own feces, screaming gibberish.’ In a Mississippi prison specially designed for mentally ill inmates, ‘rats climb over the prisoners’ beds, and some prisoners capture the rats, put them on makeshift leashes, and sell them as pets to other inmates”’ (tracreports).

Our country needs to stop asking how we can punish those who break the law and instead ask why those people broke the law. Let's work on prevention and rehabilitation not punishment because it's evident that punishment isn't working. 

A quick summary of the most important facts:

- there are 10 times as many mentally ill people in jail than in mental hospitals

- 1/3 black people have a chance of going to jail 

- even if we cut out incarceration rate in half we would still be the third most incarcerated country in the world 

Some people might read this and just feel sad and annoyed about the prison system in America. Take those feelings and share them with someone. Spread the message. Be a voice.

Sources:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92296114 (gym prisons)
http://sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Trends-in-US-Corrections.pdf (visuals)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/what-does-solitary-confinement-do-to-your-mind/  (solitary confinement)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/04/30/a-shocking-number-of-mentally-ill-americans-end-up-in-prisons-instead-of-psychiatric-hospitals/ (mentally ill in prisons)
https://aspe.hhs.gov/basic-report/psychological-impact-incarceration-implications-post-prison-adjustment (psychological effects)
http://www.nij.gov/topics/corrections/recidivism/Pages/welcome.aspx  (repeat offenders)
http://www.tacreports.org/storage/documents/treatment-behind-bars/treatment-behind-bars.pdf (mentally ill effects)