Prison: Not Privilege

Very informative. I should hope after reading your hub people will not make the classification that prison is compared to even a 1 or 2 star hotel. It really wakes people up to what prison life is like. Thanks for the very detailed information.

Thank you for sharing this information with the public. So much more information and analysis of this Prison Industrial Complex needs to be shared. Not only is it a University of Failure, it's a well oiled machine producing Post Incarceration Syndrome. I think the word Correction in any form should be removed from the name of every agency that is in reality simply serving up large portions of Punishment and Dehumanization to the individuals in their custody. I believe that everyone working in the "Corrections System" including Community Corrections employees (Parole/Probation Officers, etc.) should have their performance measured based on the long term outcome and effectiveness of their ability to "Correct/Rehabilitate" and "Supervise/Manage" individuals in their custody or under their control. As long as the public keeps believing that the "criminals" are the only defective component of the Public Safety System, it will not improve. A system/factory/machine is measured by how well it produces the intended product. The Prison Industrial Complex is producing individuals more "broken" when they leave the system, than when they came in, in many cases. In our state 86% of the incarcerated have substance abuse issues or the disease of addiction. And regardless of the fact that our state has had a mental health and addiction treatment parity law since 2007, our prisons provide addiction treatment to about 10% or less of individuals with high level addictions who have a high likelihood of recidivism. If they had any other DISEASE would the Prison Industrial Complex get away without providing any treatment? Something like 60% of the crimes committed in our state are somehow related to substance use, abuse, or addiction, but we don't provide any treatment of the condition that contributed to the crime? How is that improving "Public Safety"? Our Criminal (In)Justice system would be dissolved immediately if it had to face an "effectiveness" test. All efforts are directed at identifying the law that was broken, identifying who broke it, and deciding how to punish the law breaker, which does nothing to repair the damage done, or prevent the damage from being done again, unless you lock people up forever. The public seems to be vastly unaware that 95% of the incarcerated will eventually be released. Do they really want people coming back to their community in worse shape than when they left? If you found a homeless sick dog and you wanted it to be adopted, would you put it a cold, harsh, dangerous environment, let people torment it often, feed it poorly, let other dogs constantly growl and threaten it, never have it examined or treated by a vet, poke it with a stick when it was sleeping, and then wonder why it wasn't acting friendly and spunky when people came to see it? Well that's just what is happening in our prisons today. Over 2 million Americans incarcerated. 1 in 36 people are somehow involved in the "system" (incarcerated, or on parole or probation). More than 3500 people serving life sentences for non-violent crimes. Many of them first time offenders. The USA, Iran, and North Korea (and maybe some small country in Africa) are the only countries in the world who permit a child under the age of 18, when the crime was committed, to be sentenced to death. 22 of them since 1976. We need a good dose of Restorative Justice in this country. It's not a new concept, it's actually a very ancient one, and it's a helluva lot more effective than our "modern justice system". Wake up America, your $$$ is being wasted and you aren't safer because of all the money being flushed down the toilet of the Prison Industrial Complex. If you want peace and safety, work for REAL Justice that Restores Balance and Heals Communities.

K,

AS A FORMER CORRECTIONAL OFFICER I FIND YOUR ARTICLE TO BE EXACTLY THE DESCRIPTION OF BOTH STATE AND FEDERAL SYSTEMS. MANY ARE UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT IT IS AS YOU SAID A LUXURY HOTEL OF SORTS. THIS IS SO FAR FROM THE TRUTH. I HOPE THAT MANY WILL READ YOUR ARTICLE AND REALIZE THAT EVEN THOSE CONVICTED OF A CRIME ARE DESERVING OF BETTER THAN WHAT OUR CURRENT CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM OFFERS. WE SHOULD GO BACK TO THE IDEA OF REHABILITATION. MANY OF THESE INMATES WILL AT SOME POINT BE RELEASED TO LIVE AMONG US IN SOCIETY, THEREFORE I FIND IT CRUCIAL TO PROVIDE SOME KIND OF EDUCATIONAL AND EMPLOYMENT TRAINING.

Thanks, KR. An honest picture of prison life is important. A friend of mine who was imprisoned in a low-security Federal prison for over a year saw that the chicken coming into the kitchen was labelled "not fit for human consumption.

And as they say, it easier to build stronger children than to repair broken men.

great hub, it is really interesting, we never get a close view in TV about prison life.

Potential diagnosis, you mean every single case is different right? Here in CA people under the 3 strikes laws receive more time after the third offense. That si great for child or other forms of sexual predators but not making sense for drug users (non dealers only consumers) who should get rehabilitation.

After the first offense drug user get a 12 month probation and assist regularly to a rehab...after the next 2 offenses a severe punishment is applied. You could be right, every case si different.

One more thing, judges in CA are told to look at the offender and consider a sentence if he is not capable of controlling himself, he could be placed in rehab or medical treatment after completing the sentence, originally used for chil abusers who lost control over themselves but it also applies for non violent offenses.

I have heard that is not a life style people want, but why on earth are so many still going back so quickly? In 2002 the federal bureau of prison or other federal agency conducted an study and learned that the longer an inmate stays in prison sentence, the less likely he will go back.

Do you think some people do not stay long enough?

Thank you for giving us an insider's point of view. It seems that resent news has led people down the wrong road

It has always worried me that the legal system in this country can make it possible for a person that has committed no crime to end up in prison.This doesn't happen for example in Uruguay the country where I was born..........If you are in prison there is because you committed a crime.If you are a law abiding citizen you need not fear ever ending up in jail.

Sure the have 3 secured meals a day, everyday housing, and custodians as compared to a great number of people who lose their houses or have no meal in an entire week. I have never been in prison before, but surely it is no a good thing. Most of my friends who have been there say they could be ok with the food, bathroom, restoom and so on; but the worst they say is the others inmate who always try to intimate them and or steal their food and rape them.

Thank you for a realistic view of prison; I grow tired of articles that talk about the country club atmosphere of prisons; those articles are written obviously by someone who has never spent time in a hell hole.

Very informative hub. Thanks for sharing your personal experiences. Hopefully you have helped clear up some misconceptions about the prison system.