PRISONS

PRISONS

Some statistics I find hard to believe. Here's one. One of every 136 people in our country is behind bars right now. Is that unbelievable or what? Yes, its less than one percent of the whole population but HOLY SMOKE. That's about 2.2 million people. About 1.4 million of those are in prison and .75 million in local jails. I find it hard to get my head around these numbers but I know they are larger than I would have guessed.

Do we have too many people in jail? By percentage of population, the USA has more people in prison than any country in the world.

Its interesting to think about what prisons are. Many are called Penal Institutions. This name indicates that their purpose is to penalize - that this prison is a penalty for wrong doing. Some are called Correctional Facilities. This name indicates that their purpose is to correct faults - that this prison is trying to change the inmates. Young people are often sent to Reformatories.
Young people can be reformed, I suppose.

For me and I suppose many other, prisons are a protection to keep us safe. A place to keep the bad guys. I don't think anyone who is not a threat to others should be in prison. Lets stop this insanity about correcting faults and reforming bad habits in a prison setting. There must be other ways of penalizing criminals who are not a threat to others.