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