America’s Shameful “Secret Epidemic”
There is an epidemic in America in our day, an epidemic which is costing
millions of people their lives and all Americans millions of wasted dollars. This
epidemic is a rampant “justice” system which has steam rolled out of control
and which is not defined by the word “justice.” The United States has the
highest incarceration rate per capita - that is, imprisoned people versus the
entire country’s population - than any other country in the world. We have
“more of our people” in prison than anyone else - more than Russia, North
Korea, and China combined. More than Mexico with its well-known violent
crime and drug cartels. More than Iran. More than South Africa during the
height of apartheid, More than any third world country. More than anyone.
Does the United States have the “worst” people or the “worst criminals” who
somehow “deserve” this ridiculously high number? Any reasonable person
should see that this is not the case. How can we justify this and do nothing?
With 5% of the world's population and more than 25% of the world's prisoners,
there are now more than 2.3 million people in prison and upwards of 7 million
either on parole, probation or awaiting trial. One in every 33 people in the
United States is under state control and that number is still increasing.
The economic burden on our society due to this epidemic is tremendous while the loss of potential of all these incarcerated
people, members of society, is wasted. Over the course of a year 13.5 million people spend time in jail or prison and 95
percent eventually are released. Many individuals with diagnosed medical and mental conditions are inappropriately
incarcerated. Texas recently struck down a bill that would have prohibited the death penalty for mentally deficient people.
Most of the imprisoned in the United States are poor, and they are disproportionately African-American and Latino, while
the LGBT community sees an incarceration right that is an amazing three times higher than the “general population.”
Lesbians make up over 40% of women in prison.
Unfortunately, a great deal of abuse, mistreatment and violation of rights takes
place due to this “system” we have allowed to get out of control, particularly
among minorities. While there are certainly violent criminals and repeat
offenders who must legitimately be incarcerated long-term, this trend of
excessive incarceration and excessive long-term incarceration results in millions
of people who are not violent or repeat offenders housed with prisoners who
abuse, mistreat, physically attack, rape and in some cases kill them. There is a
very high rate of disease and illness, untreated conditions, and even suicide
among inmates. Some prisons supply one doctor to handle the health care
needs of 5000 or more inmates. Much of the abuse comes at the hands of the
“keepers” - the guards, wardens and workers who often believe it is their job (or
right) to “punish” the inmates. If inmates complain they face harassment and
retribution from corrections officers. Violation of basic human rights should
never be an issue for the imprisoned, yet there are constant abuses. Abuse is never any part of anyone’s sentence. Often
young people enter the prison system after a making a mistake and come out after years as trained criminals. This benefits
no one.
The prison system has become one of the fastest growing sectors in the economy and there is pressure to maintain a level
of prisoner occupancy. Nearly 5,000 adult prisons and jails exist across the United States. Approximately 750,000 men and
women work in U.S. Correctional facilities as guards, line officers or other staff. Unfortunately, economically deprived areas
of the country are faced with growing pressure to accept the construction of new facilities in their region in order to provide
jobs. This creates a vicious cycle. What is more, recent years has seen a growing trend toward the privatization of
correctional facilities. With focus on profit, there is an increase in the rate of violence and a resultant lowering of standards.
Turning corrections into “business” rather than a government service is an illogical and erroneous approach as anyone with
common sense can see. Treatment of prisoners continues to decline and abuse to increase, all for the goal of profit.
One might think that with the incredibly high incarceration rate as well as the over 3000 people on death row - if the system
worked that is - there would be a direct, resultant decrease in crime, but that is not the case. The system simply does not
work. Being “tough” on crime is a political tool for those who want to get or stay in power. The U.S. has a long history of a
“culture of violence,” individualism with revenge and popular support for the death penalty. But the truth is that while this is
used to win elections, it does nothing to control crime, costs untold millions, solves nothing and ruins lives. Prison is not an
opportunity for “revenge” for victims and families - it is a time for the inmate to be separated from general society and thus
to “pay for his or her crime” while learning new behavior and thinking so that they will be fit to rejoin society at a later time.
It has been repeatedly proven both in special programs in the United States as well as through penal systems elsewhere
that the most productive method of “justice” is one where sentences are moderate and prison is a tool for rehabilitation
and a chance for inmates to be taught new skills, new ways of thinking and reacting, and given an opportunity to atone and
give back. Does it work in all cases? Nothing works in all cases, but the drop in recidivism using these strategies (recidivism:
the chance that an inmate will end up again in prison) drops drastically where these methods are used.
We must come together as Americans to see the error and great injustice of our system and we must fight it together. First
we have to become educated as a nation so that we can see that our current path is not the right one - and we must stop
believing in the rhetoric fed to us by our politicians, a myth about being “tough on crime” that is meant to elicit exactly what
it is designed to, what it does: an emotional and irrational response, not a logical and intelligent one that will reduce our
monstrous prison system to acceptable manageable proportions, that will stop unnecessarily ruining and taking lives, and
that will remove this massive economic burden from all of us.
“You can judge a society by how well it treats its prisoners.” -Fyodor Dostoevsky
NAPR
“Prisoner Abuse is NEVER part of anyone’s sentence.”