Prison Platitudes There is a growing awareness of the iniquity inherent to the American justice system, especially with respect

to the practice of capital punishment which affects a relatively small number of people when compared to the millions of Americans who have been mired in prisons for whatever reason. I believe that the death penalty is not the most pressing issue for our legal system at the moment and that it is dwarfed by the ramifications necessitated by the imprisonment of non-violent offenders in both scope and magnitude. It is my firm belief that the incarceration of non-violent offenders is the biggest miscarriage of justice in the American legal system and that its practice is a detriment to law-abiding citizens as well as an ineffective means of crime deterrence. There are plenty of well meaning people who believe that prison sentences are deserved by all who are condemned by due process, but most of these people are not directly affected by the penal system and have no motive to consider an alternative until it does.

The most obvious argument against imprisoning non-violent criminals is that there is no evidence that it deters future offense by the individual. Moreover, all evidence points to the contrary, they will almost certainly return to prison and nearly always resume their patterns of behavior once released. If this wasnt bad enough, many liken prison to a College for Criminals from which most emerge with a bolstered image of themselves as real convicts and often with newfound gang affiliations which prisoners are all but forced to join in order to survive the time they have been court ordered to serve. These people emerge from prison into our communities having been indoctrinated with distrust, hate, and violent instincts which will inevitably lead them right back to the place that made them this way and it is a vicious cycle that is a detriment to the entire human race, not to mention the families and communities afflicted by the problem. I am not saying I have all the answers I am only certain that murderers and rapists are the worst possible influence imaginable for substance abusers, prostitutes, con-artists and probation violators.

Notwithstanding the obvious moral issues associated with the incarceration of non-violent criminals; American taxpayers are footing a nearly forty thousand dollar per year cost of imprisoning each inmate. It seems to me this money could be more effectively spent improving the impoverished conditions which espouse criminal behavior in the first place. I know these types of programs take years to effect any substantive change in the communities as a whole, but at least these less serious offenders can repay their debt to society by

doing something, anything positive in these poverty stricken communities. Even if we, in effect, subsidize their employment within some sort of government mandated urban renewal; we would be doing ourselves a favor in the long run. The majority of prisons in the United States are private institutions that operate for profit and do not profit from the rehabilitation of the incarcerated but they certainly have more to gain from high recidivism rates and ineffective crime prevention policies.

The most prevalent and persistent issue plaguing the entire population of prisoners is most definitely substance abuse. The problem of drug abuse and the crisis of addiction touch each and every person in this country to some degree, and is essentially the oil greasing the engine of our prison system which in turn is driving this county into the ditch. The world is in enough trouble as it is and we are wasting precious time and resources on an antiquated and futile mode of operation no longer relevant in a twenty-first century world beset by global catastrophes and terrorism that show no signs of slowing but will most certainly escalate in the coming decade. If America has any hope of weathering the socio-political upheaval, much less the inevitable environmental changes and natural disasters which have become increasingly frequent and violent as of late, we have to re-evaluate our values as a people and uphold the value of every last person as equal and essential to the human cause and address the flaws in the system and stop condemning generation after generation to the ignominy we have allowed this country to contaminate its countrymen with a disgraceful mockery of justice while were stuck on non-issues like gay marriage and abortion.

Even though there will always be plenty of people who want to continue putting criminals under the jail, there will eventually come a time when the festering sore can no longer be ignored and the conscious of good people will become obvious to those with the power to have done something and I fear that day will come too late for us and what we fear the most will be unleashed on the world. Prison is a necessary evil and meant to contain the most depraved and dangerous among us; it is not a cure-all punishment for everything, hardly; it is a cesspool of malicious iniquity bent on drowning any petty sinner swimming close enough to it. Capital punishment takes lives but incarceration poisons hearts and minds. Which of these scares you more: a life ending in death or a global descent into depravity?