Watch MSNBC's "Lockup" Series.The entire series is neutral on the issue. It simply shows what happens inside the jails. They interview the inmates and the staff. They show how the inmates act out and how the guards react. They show everything.
There is no way you can watch that and with sound mind and body believe that what happens in the United States Prison system is humane. A lot of them have some luxuries, especially lower security ones, but for the most part it's just a human warehouse that nobody is ever expected to recover from.
Things that stick out immediately to me are:
- Prisoners are fed the cheapest of meals available. All of them are overweight. Even the bulkiest ones that spend every waking second working out have flabby man tits because of their diet.
- No prisoner has any hope. They do not think the guards are there to benefit them and all of them have a persecution complex. They feel that they are on their own, which is why the majority of "shanks" (homebrew knives) are constructed: self-defense.
- Prisoners leave prison with a fresh pair of clothes and $100. Often, they leave without any work experience, medication, diagnoses, or guidance.
This is just from memory.
Sometimes Lockup will go over seas and it's an entire different world over there. The prisoners are treated like people -- yes, even those murderers and rapists. People have high hopes. The guards have little problem handling the prisoners because the prisoners are given what they need and there is very little friction between the two groups. Nobody tries to escape, nobody breaks parole, people behave because they're trying to
better themselves.
More than 2% (
7,225,800) of the United States population is
in prison from everything ranging from marijuana possession to spree killing.
95%+ are Male.
Almost half are black.
0.1% of Prisoners are Atheists.
America has
the largest prison population in the world.
There is something wrong here, and I don't think 7,255,800 bullets will fix it.
Poll