(Lee Correctional Institute, where seven inmates died in the deadliest riot in 2 decades)
Article (The Guardian)
2.3 million prison inmates across the United States have organized strikes in response to the current prison conditions present in the U.S. Complaints over harsh sentences such as life without parole, lack of basic political rights, and a lack of rehabilitation services are in abundance. However, the main complaint of these inmates is that they are forced to work with extremely low pay, to the point where they are calling it "modern slavery."
I find the presence of such abusive conditions in the U.S. prison system disturbing. In comparison to other developed nation's prison systems, the U.S. appears to be significantly worse in both rehabilitating prisoners and providing a basic amount of human decency to the prisoners. Furthermore, the corporations that exploit these prisoners for their own financial gain seem to be treading quite the morally questionable path.
The presence of such a poor penal system may in fact damage America's reputation as a bastion of liberty in the eyes of other nations due its inability to treat its own prisoners humanely. Furthermore, the continuation of our current prison system simply gives our "rivals" more things to attack us with, and fighting for human rights in other countries seems a bit hypocritical when we ourselves cannot ensure that we protect human rights in our own country.
Questions:
1. Does the U.S. prison system need a complete revamp?
2. Do certain prisoners deserve sentences such as life without parole?
I do not think the prison system needs a complete revamp, but I do think there should be some changes to the system nonetheless. While prisoners are usually (as in there are wrongfully convicted people in there as well) in prison for a reason (especially when it comes to more brutal crimes such as murder), they are still human and deserve to maintain certain unalienable rights. I personally think that the low pay for work is the biggest problem but more so the generally abusive environment towards prisoners. While they are prisoners who have done plenty of wrong in the world, that doesn’t justify any means of abuse. Instead, I believe that life sentences are a good and fair punishment, but only for those who have committed extremely serious crimes (such as serial killers and mass rapists). However, I do not think a life sentence without parole is fair. While there are very sinister and dangerous people out there, I think that parole should still be an option.
ReplyDeleteIn response to question two, I do believe certain prisoners deserve sentences such as life without parole. I can understand how many harsh and unfair sentences given out for lower level crimes is an issue and do believe that needs to be fixed, but when it comes to extreme crime (pre-meditated murder, for example) I believe it is completely fair for a prisoner to carry out life sentences especially when they were responsible for ending the life of another person.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that our prison system requires reform. Prisoners should not be allowed to work below minimum wage and should not be compelled to work. This is antithetical to a free market, hurting other American businesses who cannot compete with such a morally devoid system. The prisoners are also mistreated in this system because they aren't receiving fair compensation for the work they do, forcing them to be paid minimum wage at least would be a big step in the right direction. Another important point of the American prison system that must be reformed is the outrageous sentences and focus on punishment, such as mandatory minimum sentencing for drug related crimes potentially forcing judges to lock up nonviolent drug offenders for decades, the 3 strikes policy that can end with nonviolent drug crimes leading to life in prison and so much more. I do not believe that life without parole is a truly acceptable conviction in the vast majority of cases, because what life without parole means is that said prisoner can never reform and be reintegrated into society, and if that's the case, then why bother locking them up at all when the US has decided to keep the death penalty. Almost no one cannot be reformed and rehabilitated, and for people who cannot change, they are either insane, in which case they aren't in regular prison and this doesn't apply or they're deeply evil (if that even exists) and have forfeited any right to life because their only contribution to society is negative.
ReplyDeleteI believe the U.S. prison system doesn't need a "complete revamp" however, it couldn't hurt to revise the current system we have and make it less torturous. People shouldn't be in prison to enjoy it, but they should have their basic human rights. Regarding question two, I believe that certain prisoners do deserve sentences such as life without parole depending on what they did. If they killed one or more people on purpose, they are deserving of life without parole. Taking the life of another individual should require a harsher punishment.
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ReplyDeleteTo address your second question, I do believe that certain people deserve life in prison without parole. The committing of terrible crimes such as murder or sexual abuse need to come with appropriate consequences that will ensure the offenders cannot commit such crimes again. Although life in prison is a very harsh consequence to a committed crime, it ensures and prioritizes the safety of other citizens. However, the sentencing of such a long imprisonments should not be taken lightly since they have the capability to jeopardize a person's entire future. It is still important to protect basic human rights and assure a just prison time, something that varies for each specific case.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Marie that some prisoners should be sentenced to life without parole due to the severity of their crimes. While the death penalty is a controversial topic at the moment, life sentences serve as a less extreme alternative to this. However, with the current corruption and inhumane conditions of today's prisons prevent citizen's protections under the 8th amendment, regardless of the severity of their crimes. In that way, I believe that the prison system must be revised in order to guarantee humane treatment of individuals who will be serving life sentences.
DeleteThe 8th amendment prohibits the federal government from imposing cruel and unusual punishments. This amendment is clearly not being enforced in prisons, which is shown by the inhumane treatment that prisoners receive. Being stunned by electronic devices and soaked with chemical sprays are examples of how prisoners are being physically abused by the staff. These reports of inhumane treatment usually don’t come from authorized sources .Those who run the prison system don’t want the public to know about the cruel treatment that prisoners receive. Since it is apparent that the prison system is violating the 8th amendment, the system should be revamped. Although a life sentence without parole has its flaws, it is inexpensive relative to the death penalty. Since life without parole provides justice to those who suffered from criminal incidents, I believe that it shouldn’t be abolished.
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ReplyDeleteThe US prison system does need to be completely reformed. Even though the US represents only about 4.4% of the world's total population, it houses 20% of the world's prisoners. Approximately 1% of the population is incarcerated. The reason for this is that many private prisons are encouraged to contain more prisoners in order to gain more funding, therefore the point of prison becomes less of to reform prisoners, but rather to keep them there. Additionally, some states such as California allow prisons to essentially use their prisons as slave labor. For example, during the wildfire crisis in California, there were teams of prisoners that were dispatched to be firefighters, and were being paid for $2 per day, and $1 per hour, which was way below the state minimal wage. Prisoner labor should be encouraged, however, since it had been statistically proven to be helpful towards prisoners being able to reintegrate into society, but the inmates should be treated the same as any normal work force, and be paid the same wages and have the same benefits. The overall mindset as to the purpose of prison needs to be changed from being a form of punishment to a method of reform. About half of the people being imprisoned are done so because of drug related offenses, which although is illegal, should not warrant punishment as extreme as prison time. Additionally, after imprisonment, individuals will find it much harder to become employed, and are much less likely to reintegrate into society, therefore being more likely to return to prison. Prisons should have systems in place to decrease the re-incarceration rate.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that the prison system needs a complete revamp. A lot of inmates are in prison for minor offenses such as possession of drugs, and have served too lengthy of a sentence. This greatly contributes to prison overcrowding and decline of conditions. Additionally, I think for these more minor offenses, throwing people in jail is counterproductive. I believe that entering them into rehabilitation programs would be a better way to reintegrate them into society and transform them into citizens that contribute more to the greater good. No matter what the offense may have been for larger crimes, American citizens still deserved to be treated as human beings, and the current system does not guarantee this.
ReplyDeleteI also believe that the prison system needs a revamp as there are many people serving for minor offenses. Prisons are very expensive since cells have to be built, guards need to be hired and prisoners need to be fed. The money could be spent on things that could reduce crime or rehabilitating people with minor offenses. I believe that putting minor offenders in jails can make them more dangerous due to everything they learn and experience in jail. People who go to jail have a harder time looking for a job after, and they will turn to crime again.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the prison system needs a revamp. I agree with Grace that it is a result of people serving time in jail for minor offenses. Keeping inmates in jail costs a lot of money and that money could go to more productive agendas rather than trying to keep minor offenders in jail. We are exploiting these citizens who have minor offenses by using their labor. We should be focusing on jailing those who commit crimes such as murder or rape rather than someone who has possession of drugs.
ReplyDelete^Zoe Wilson
DeleteI agree that prisons need a revamp. The current system abuses inmates, and when they get out of prison, they arent a changed man. If the whole point of jail is for rehabilitation of these people, we should try to do everything in our power to make prison successful. This starts with giving prisoners better wages, so when they leave jail they have money to make their lives better.
ReplyDelete^Leo Preiser
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't believe that the prison system needs to be entirely rethought out, I do think that we must consider the ethics of such a situation. Without a decent and moral pay, these prisoners (even if they did commit horrible crimes) are being subjected to forced labor, which is clearly inhumane. Some may argue that this is a moral dilemma, but I think that it shouldn’t be morally controversial to treat people like people and not slaves. Forced labor should never be the solution to punish people because not only does it make our country look petty and weak, but it causes unnecessary disputes as seen by these recent events. A good compromise would be to simply pay these prisoners a bit more and make the conditions in the prisons less cruel and workable.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the United States prison system has been corrupt for many years. With many state institutions switching to a privatized system of detention, there has become little incentive to rehabilitate an inmate. Since prison corporations are paid per head to detain criminals, they risk losing money if an inmate is let out early on good behavior or successfully reintegrated into society. They much rather have repeat customers. It is vital that states buy back their detention centers and run them themselves in order to make them an institution that values rehabilitation.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that the prison system does need to be revamped. I think that the whole prison system has turned into an industry doing it for the money at the expense of the inmates. Many prisons are focused on a minimum requirement and are not focused on the well being of the inmate, but they are still people. Some people do deserve life in prison without parole because there are cases where these people should not be with the regular society. That being said their conditions inside the prison should still not be abusive and torturous. If that is the society and culture in a prison, I believe that the use of using as a prison to think about their mistakes loses its purpose and hurts them more than it helps
ReplyDeleteWhile I don’t believe that prisons need a complete revamp, I do think that prisons and prison guards need to treat prisoners with more respect and ensure that they are still treated humanely regardless of the crime they commit. I support the system of having prisoners work, but only if they are paid fairly (at least minimum wage). Having prisoners work can help integrate them back to society and get them used to what it will be like once they are out of prison. However, paying the prisoners such low wages will only discourage them from working and encourage them to commit more crimes in the future. Also, paying low wages will just lead to more prisoners and companies abusing this system and putting people into prison just to use them as a cheap labor force, which is extremely wrong from a moral standpoint.
ReplyDeleteAlthough prisoners are serving sentences for committing crimes, it is wrong to force them to do manual labor at little to no pay. Labor for crime is a punishment that some prison systems do have. However, this prison is forcing prisoners to work with low wages. Prisoners, even after they commit crimes, are still human, and will deserve rights that all humans have in the United States of America. Working in prison can be seen as a kind of rehabilitation. There should be pays that the prisoners get, but it should be limited to an amount, after all they are in prison for committing crimes
ReplyDeleteI believe certain prisoners deserve sentences such as life without parole. While it may sound a bit harsh, comparing the severity of the prisoners' sentences with their respective crimes makes it apparent that the prisoners' sentences are pale in comparison. This does not apply to all prisoners, but more specifically for serial killers, murders, and other dangerous inmates that often find themselves in high security prisons. These prisoners are capable of killing sprees and even torture their victims; the prisoners should be kept in prison as freeing them from prison only unleashes another threat into the world. Understandably, people change, but they are too few in number, and a majority of these serious offenders stay the way they are.
ReplyDeleteI believe that certain individuals deserve life sentences without parole, but only in extreme cases, as I like to believe that people are not innately bad and that with the right help/treatment they can change their tendencies and lead a normal life. Additionally, life sentences are very costly; the government must fund everything the prisoner needs to survive (food, clothes, etc.). In response to question 1, I do not believe that the system needs a complete revamp, however I do believe that the government should require more mental health services to be offered to the inmates and that they should earn at least minimum wage for their labor.
ReplyDeleteWhile I believe that the prison system needs reform, it does not necessarily need a complete revamp. I acknowledge that we need to fix the fact that many unfair and long sentences are wrongly given to criminals who committed lower level crimes, the idea that serves as its base is still functional. That we need to assign sentences to equate to the severity of the crime. To that extent, I believe that certain prisoners deserve sentences such as life without parole, if their crime that that severe.
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