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The Pros And Cons Of The American Prison System

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Kanye West recently tweeted out an excusable pseudo-quote from a fictional depiction of Harriet Tubman, “I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” The problematic quote accurately implies that there are many people who do not realize that they are victims of societal injustice. Indeed, the United States of America was founded during a time of common prejudice and palpable pain for many minorities; unfortunately, this systemic oppression remains even in modern society. In particular, the American prison system can be closely associated with a modern day slavery. Seeing as how the U.S. leads the world in prison populations—with an exaggeratedly high amount being black and Latino men, it is crucial that we take a step in ending this corrupt cycle. Societal progress is dependant on an improved incarceration system which focuses on preventing confinement, rather than the allocation of prisons for people who are doing their best to survive. …show more content…

Furthermore, the pipeline to prison explains that many minority children are being pushed out of school for minor dilemmas and pushed into prison. This is supported by things which are out of the control of children such as poverty, mental health, a flawed education and parental support. Kalief Browder, a 16-year-old victim of our flawed prison system, was held within RI for three years—where he was mentally and physically abused. Three years later he was declared not guilty and was released. The article, Kalief Browder Held at Rikers Island For Three Years Commits suicide, explains that Browder was “unable to rid himself of the fears that had consumed him in jail.” (2) The prison system forces many helpless people into pleading guilty for crimes they have not committed in order to avoid the hardships Browder had

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As seen in 13th, there have been several cases where innocent young American boys have suffered at the hands of the system scarring them for life. For example, the case of Kalief Browder, who was black male walking back home with his friends in the Bronx when he was stopped by the police (Averick, 2016) Kalief was 16 years old when he was charged with allegedly stealing a backpack, and spent three years at Rikers Island without a trial. As told by Kalief, the police told him they would take him down to the precinct for questioning and he will most likely be able to go home, but he never did (Averick, 2016). The system granted him bail for $10,000 perfectly knowing he couldn’t pay that amount of money (Averick, 2016).

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