The Pros And Cons Of Incarceration

The United States is home to five percent of the world's population, but twenty-five percent of the world’s prisoners (Dari). One out of four human beings that have their hands on bars in the world is locked up here in the land of the free(Dari).The United States has now the largest incarceration population in the world. The problem here is not only the prisoners but also the prison system. Instead of correcting the inmate by showing what’s right, this current system does the complete opposite by encouraging and allowing illegal activities to be performed within the correctional facilities. This include gang related activities, constant fighting and most importantly allowing the use of illegal substance. This is not all, the most shocking

The solution to stop this vicious cycle is to implement an educational system, that essentially will re-immersed ex-convicts successfully into society.

Mass incarceration is one of the biggest problems this nation has faced for almost 30 years now. Now in 2016, society is still dealing with the same problem that the government had back in 1976, and nothing has been implemented to stop this cycle. As long as there’s wrong, prisons will exist, but what’s the official purpose of having a prison? According to the ACA “Prisons have four major purposes. These purposes are retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, and rehabilitation”(Westervelt). The last two purposes are the most important qualities that any prison in the world should have, and sadly the U.S prisons lack those qualities. Deterrence means the prevention of future crimes.To achieve deterrence prisons should discourage people from breaking the law. Rehabilitation is an essential quality every prisoner coming out of jail needs to have. Rehabilitation refers to the activities designed to

My solution is to implement an educational system that will resemble the one high schools have, and if the inmate has his/her GED they can proceed to the next step. The next step is the career preparation, sort of like a community college that enables the student to earn a two-year degree or more. I know this sounds too great to be the truth, but surprisingly this approach will benefit both parties. According to U.S. News educational programs cost about $1,400 to $1,744 per inmate each year. Having an educational program can save prisons between $8,700 to $9,700 per inmate, the cost associated with incarcerating again (Hermes). According to Rand Corporation, “education programs reduces incarceration costs by $4 to $5 during the first three years after an individual is released, the period when those leaving prisons are most likely to return” (Hermes). Critics of this proposal may claim that we already have educational systems and that they just don’t work. Right now educational systems do exist but are the minority. This minority is a great example of the effectiveness the programs have. There is one inmate in the Ironwood State Prison ,located in southern California, that is the foolproof example. He was convicted of manslaughter in 1984 and was given life in prison, and in 1989 he proposed to have an educational system within the Ironwood facilities. At the time, having school in