It's Time To Change The Prisons

[Joanne98]

For OpEdNews: Kenneth E. Hartman - Writer

There comes a point in every failed social experiment when nothing more can be accomplished. The sad truths of the nation's vast, extraordinarily expensive and spectacularly ineffective prison systems must be acknowledged. It's time to change the prisons.

For the past quarter of a century, all 50 states and the federal government have wholly adopted the "tough on prisoners" model. No one can argue that the lives of prisoners aren't orders of magnitude harder now than at the beginning of this movement to a purely punitive form of incarceration.

Visitation is more restrictive and overnight family visiting programs are virtually gone. Basic education programs are drastically reduced. Higher education is long over. The ability to possess personal property is severely restricted. Almost all prisoners in this country are now forced to wear humiliating clothing that stamps them with the modern, sickening-orange, badge of shame.

On top of all that, the culture of prisons and those who guard prisoners has shifted to outright hostility. Correctional officers see their role as one of exacting societal revenge on a daily basis, a role they have embraced with gusto.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/It-s-Time-To-Change-The-Pr-by-Kenneth-E-Hartman-100513-337.html

[DrDan]

1. seems to me we need to make more use of house "arrests" via ankle bracelets

why use expensive incarceration for non-violent crimes? Let the less-violent criminals pay their own expenses and monitor their locations.

[Dr.Phool]

2. That's ridiculous.

Next you'll be calling for the elimination of flogging, chain gangs, and digging ditches and filling them back up again. :sarcasm: