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American Prison Reform Analysis

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The American Prison System: Needs to Reform Alice Goffman, speaker in the presentation “How we're priming some kids for college — and others for prison” in which she tells the story of two brothers. Their names were Chuck and Tim. Chuck was 18 years old and Tim was 10. Chuck was an average student who got B’s and C’s and loved to play basketball. One afternoon in the school yard a classmate of Chuck called his mother a crack whore. Like most people he shoved the classmate to the ground. He should have gotten a detention or a suspension, but that did not happen. He lived in a low income area that was targeted by the police. Subsequently, the police officers charged Cuck with aggravated assault, a felony, which sent him to adult county …show more content…

The American Civil Liberties Union an organization for protection of liberties of the common American said “The United States incarcerates almost 25 percent of the prisoners in the entire world despite having only 5 percent of the world’s population. Hundreds of thousands of people are locked up not because of any dangerous behavior, but because they could not pay off a fine or were convicted of a nonviolent drug or property crime” (”Mass Incarceration”). This is unacceptable for a world power. America’s core values are centered around liberty and freedom and we have such a high incarceration rate. There are many different factors for the creation of mass incarceration. Thor Benson from Attn.com and writer of “The 4 Biggest Reasons So Many Americans are Behind Bars” stated that long sentences, excessive punishment of non-violent crime, and the war on drugs as being major contributors to mass incarceration. All of these help keep prisoners in the system instead of becoming healthy productive …show more content…

American Civil Liberties Union an organization for protection of liberties of the common American said “Overcrowding, violence, sexual abuse, and other conditions pose grave risks to prisoner health and safety. Mistreatment of prisoners based on race, sex, gender identity, or disability remains far too common” (“Prisoners’ Rights”). Since the population of prisoners are hidden such injustice is not commonly reported on. THe denial of prisoner rights in no more clearer than in the case of solitary confinement. Keri Blakinger writer for Vice and author of “How Solitary Confinement Affected Me Five Years After My Release” said in her article “‘It's a little like PTSD,’ Kupers said. ‘A lot of people go to war and have traumatic experiences, but only some develop the symptoms of PTSD’. ‘I would say maybe a quarter of the people have full-blown isolation panic,’ he continued, referencing a term coined by his colleague, Hans Toch, to describe immediate, intense reactions to solitary” (Blakinger). With such intense responses and PTSD like symptoms cruel and unusual punishment like this should be banned. Prison’s ultimate goal is to reform prisoners and allow them to lead happy healthy lives outside of prison and harsh punishment like this does not help that

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