Prison

In my opinion, the biggest problem concerning our criminal justice system is that there isn't enough of a focus on rehabilitating inmates and making sure that they are prepared to integrate back into society once their sentence is up. We have a system in which small time offenders become hardened criminals who are less capable of becoming productive members of society after they leave the justice system then when they entered it. Another big problem with the prison system is the fact that we have so many private for-profit prisons which focus on meeting a quota of inmates and incorporating forced labor into their program. Now, I've never been incarcerated, so I can't really speak from direct experience, but I can talk about what I've seen, researched, and read. If you ask me, there are absolutely 200% some people that belong in prison for the remainder of their lives. I'm talking about murderers, rapists, and individuals who have made it abundantly clear to society that they lack the basic moral foundation to be a functioning and productive members of the world. There are plenty of people out there that simply have something in their brain that just wasn't wired right to begin with that makes them a natural threat to society. This criminal, antisocial, antipathic aspect that they have will naturally lead them to a life of crime and they don't only deserve to be incarcerated for the safety of others, but for their own good. However, I believe that there is also a sizable population of prisoners who don't deserve imprisonment. These people would include small time drug offenders, and people who have committed crimes that didn't harm any other human beings. I know many would disagree with me, but I believe that these people more need to be treated as though they have a mental health issue instead of a criminal one. Now, of course that doesn't mean I think people who break societies rules shouldn't be punished. We have laws for a reason; they hold society together and ascribe a uniform ideology of common beliefs that we all have and should all follow. That's not to say that there aren't certain offenders who should be given more lenient punishments that are more respective to the particular crime they committed. A little bit ago I read a somewhat disturbing article on a prison in Texas where inmates were dying from the heat due to the fact that there was no air conditioning in the prison, and that really unnerved me. While I don't think prisons should be five star hotels, I don't think it's morally acceptable to have a prison where inmates are dying due to the conditions they are in. Prison shouldn't be a comfortable place, it's a punishment after all, but I believe that there is a fine line between punishment and morally reprehensible conditions that even animals shouldn't be in. Of course it should be taken into account that the story about that prison in Texas is obviously the exception to the rule, and is in no way an indicator of how prisons operate across the board. Prison is an unfortunate place to find yourself in, but we as a society have rules, and there needs to be repercussions for breaking those rules. That's not to say that our prison system can't be improved. The United States has more inmates per capita than any other country on the planet and that needs to be addressed. Our justice system can always be improved and I think the best way to do that is to focus on rehabilitation instead of quotas.