“Over two million men, women, and juveniles in the Unites States live behind bars” (ACLU). The current situation in the United States’ prison system is not an ideal one and there is little being done to fix it. Incarcerating that many people has many consequences to our economy and mostly our society. Being a developed nation, we should not have so much people in prison. The United States imprisons more people than any other nation on earth and that is a sign that the prison system is broken and defective. Our prison system is broken because there are too harsh penalties, prisons are overcrowded, the mistreating of our correctional officers, and the fact that many offenders will go back to jail/prison once released. Reason number one of why our prison system is broken …show more content…
It is not only the prisoners that are mistreated but the officers as well. Being a correctional officer or art of the staff at a prison does not pay enough considering the risks taken. Some correctional officers have faced mental health issues because of the constant stress that one is under. Oscar Lopez, from Newsweek, has said that former corrections officer Brian Dawe has said in an interview: "You are in a constant state of fight or flight.” Dawe has also said: "We are so understaffed and so overcrowded across our prisons, it's miraculous that we can handle it.” A statistic that proves that mental health issues in prison guards are real is: Corrections officers are twice as likely to commit suicide (Lopez). These officers are very mistreated and put into the lion’s den without much help. Aside from the officers themselves, other staff members are also in constant danger. Giving medicine of teaching prisoners is a dangerous job but can be less dangerous given that more help from the state is received. Being part of the staff in a prison is not very rewarding. This is a tell-tale sign that our prison system is