Another issue that the American prison systems were facing was their constant practice of locking away mentally ill individuals to very long prison sentences that only seriously worsened their conditions, and even made their chances of overcoming mental illness, nearly impossible. Even medications that were prescribed to these individuals made them suffer serious and sometimes even worse, side effects. Although some states banned the high rates of mentally ill individuals to prisons, this only meant they were more targeted and thrown in jail for petty offenses by police. Many prisons do not have the resources, nor the skills needed to adequately and appropriately care for the mentally ill, therefore many of them suffer and even die from this …show more content…
This is true of Idaho as well, as they do not celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. day, but instead Human Rights Day, a very disturbing irony of the history that so blatantly defied human rights. It was not until the prison guard had heard Bryan’s efforts of exonerating a victim of foster care abuse, that he became seemingly not-racist, a drastic comparison to the hostile and inhumane way he treated Bryan when they first met. This only shows how racism is fueled by anger, and full of pent up emotions, and in some cases, may not be specifically directed at those of color specifically. After the guard was able to personally relate to Avery, a man of color, and become inspired by Bryan’s actions, another man of color, he was able to sever these racist feelings he had towards these men. This was because skin color had separated them and made these two groups of men unable to relate for so long, because of racist societal structures. I also think it is interesting that the author included a mentioning of mental illness after the chapter that discussed child imprisonment because in both situations, environmental circumstances and cognitive states drastically contributes to both groups’ decision making abilities, and