Based on available data and respected studies the inequitable conviction rates based on race, drug offenses and economic disparity help bring the U.S. prison system to its present state of bursting at the seams. The high recidivism rate in the United States may explain why prisons are more effective at turning out better criminals than they are at turning out better citizens. This may raise questions about the economic and societal impact of the “punishment ethic” as a means of dealing with crime.
The antiquated and crumbling prison system that is feeling the pressure of diminishing government funding is leaving the door open for corporate interests to move in and lobby for no substantive changes to the penal system but instead to maximize profits through a “feedlot” approach to incarceration. A decade of investments in campaign contributions and lobbying, that totaled $45 million, resulted in the harvest of $5.1 billion for immigrant detention alone. The private prison industry has taken their next step by pressuring legislatures to increase the length of sentences and the number of people imprisoned to further increase corporate profits.
The single greatest action that could be taken to increase the effectiveness of our penal system would be to decrease the disparity in economic opportunity and change people’s lives before they get arrested. One out of every 31 people in the United States is either incarcerated or on some form of supervised release. The United States jails a greater portion of its citizens than any other country in the world. The resources required to deal with the massive number of people being arrested and jailed strains local, state and federal budgets.
While the US has 5 percent of the world’s population, it has 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. Oddly enough the United States also consumes 25 percent of the world’s resources.
One percent of Americans hold nearly 43 percent of its wealth. While these are all just numbers, intelligent studies clearly indicate that hunger and need create pressure to commit a crime. Wealthy crimes are much less likely to result in prison time, but the crimes of the poor do result in incarceration with a group of people that will educate the poorest to hone their criminal skills just to say alive.
Edited/Published by: SB
