The prison system is no longer effective. 

prisons have recently just become holding cells for individuals that society is unsure of how to deal with or how to help. They are no longer places where individuals receive help or are given counseling. Inmates are simply held for a specified amount of time and allowed to re-join society without having reconsidered their actions. What makes this worse is that prisons profit from having as many people fill up their bed as possible; this makes them happy to see inmates coming in and coming back.

Prisons now benefit from having as many inmates in their system as possible. This creates a culture where having repeat offenders is almost desirable. There is no real attempt made to help prisoners

compared to the rest of the world we (disproportionately) imprison more people and according to the Huffington Post we all may know someone who has been incarcerated.

“The International Center for Prison Studies estimates that America imprisons 716 people per 100,000 citizens (of any age). That compares (unfavorably) with Russia (484), China (121) and Iran (284). Over 2.5 million American children have a                                                                                           parent behind bars.”

at this point the prison system has become a for profit organization that is putting far to much money in the pockets of elected officials and lobbyist, their is no clear way of reforming the the way we deal with criminals and with individuals that need legitimate help. Like I said the system now runs like a business and so many companies are finding ways to cut costs and increase profit. Food spending limits have been cut, they have cut how much money should be allocated for healthcare per prisoner, and prisons hire under qualified staff to keep wages low.

FACTS: http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet

• Prison has not been proven as a rehabilitation for behavior, as two-thirds of prisoners will re-offend
• Today, the US is 5% of the World population and has 25% of world prisoners.
• African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites
• From 1980 to 2008, the number of people incarcerated in America quadrupled-from roughly 500,000 to 2.3 million people

I respect Barbaras Ehrenreichs attempt to survive month to month on minimum wage but I can not shake the feeling that she may have been poking fun at the poor. She may not have intentionally tried to sound sarcastic and bit undermining but that is the impression I received from the book. She, unlike most American already had a good foundation to begin her experiment on. She already had a car, she most likely had enough money saved up to ensure that she will not starve or be homeless. Apart from all that she knew that what she was doing was simply imaginary, she could go back to her life and forget what being poor was ever like. She did make it very clear that no one can realistically move up in the world if their immediate source of income comes from minimum wage paying jobs. These people do not move up because they do not want to but because it is impossible to earn enough money or move up in a company that pays you $7.25 dollars an hour.

I did notice that she did admit that there were neighborhoods or cities that she was generally trying to avoid out of fear or because she knew she could not find a job in that area. Well unfortunately when you do not make enough money and do not have the luxury of options you always have to choose the cheapest option.  I also noticed that she phoned a few friends and used her credit card when she thought she might have been getting sick. She broke two of her rules when she did that, one to not use any outside forces to help her and not to tap into her credit card.

Apart from all of the assuming she did about what is would be like to be poor I do respect her experiment. However she already had many advantages that many people would only dream of. She was already in good mental and physical health. This is an advantage that should not be taken lightly, most people in the working class have been working there entire lives and when something bothers them they have to “work through” as one of her minimum wage supervisors mentioned. She was confident that she would find a job, a place to live and something to eat. However that is not the case for most blue collar workers, most working class citizens there is this feeling of being less then the person that makes more money then you and you always feel a bit inferior. This inferiority complex is perpetuated throughout your life and when its time for you to go out there and find a job and a home you just settle and lack motivation to make economically.

I did find it a bit amusing that she told a few of her fellow employers who she really was and what she was actually doing. To her surprise they did not care about her book or her social experiment. Why would they? they have their own lives to worry about. I find it a best dis tasteful that she expected a different reaction or perhaps even praise for what she was doing. Like I said I did enjoy her research but it felt like she was playing a poor person in a play and attempted to glorify a situation that we should attempt to get everyone out of.

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