The Prison Epidemic: What are we doing wrong?

From: Hard time: Reconsidering the costs of prisons

In 2007, all money spent on corrections across the 50 states hit $49 billion, according to the Pew study. They expect this money to increase by $25 billion in 2011.

This amount of money does little in reforming prisoners, which means we need change in our prison policy.

Perhaps we should reconsider locking up every kid with a marijuana conviction.

Between 1987 and 2007, states increased spending on higher education by 21 percent, according to Pew. During the same time, states increased spending on prison correction by 127 percent. Well, if two-thirds of released prisoners return within three years, then the states really don't get their money's worth. These numbers also say something about our society. Do we care more about locking people up than education? What do we value?

Great point. What the hell do we value? And why? Why is it that it's so important for us to be angry about crime, for there to be retribution and for people to have to "pay"? Do we really think that an atmosphere of anger is going to lower crime? It's a total paradox, we are so adamant that criminals pay the price for their crime and we incarcerate with such blind fury, that we don't see such mass amounts of incarceration causes more crime. In our fight against crime, we are causing it! It's utter insanity.

For example, Pew cites a 2001 Massachusetts study that reported more than three-quarters of the state's inmates failed to pay child support during the previous year. Massachusetts might only be one example, but the point remains that others suffer while prisoners serve time.

What? What are they supposed to do? Prisoners make from 40 cents per day, to 2.00 per day. How are they supposed to pay child support?

Families of inmates suffer from more than just lack of child support payments. Aside from the obvious, they suffer from having to pay such monstrous fees for calls from their loved ones (sign the petition here), from not being able to visit their loved one because the prison is so far away, from having to send them money because they only make 40 cents a day. There are 401 million more things that families of inmates suffer from. Families who, lest we forget, committed no crime.

Also, prisons can focus on community and family bonds in order to reduce violence, according to Confronting Confinement.

Yes! Step 1: Lower the cost of calls from prison so inmates can talk to their families.

Instead of throwing money at it and hoping for the best, we need prison reform to focus on changing behavior not only for the prisoner's sake, but for society as well.

But if we don't think we have a responsibility to our prisoners, then let's keep throwing money at them. Let's keep running high-population prisons so they can spread disease. And let's keep up the overcrowding so violence rates remain high. You see, when one of every 100 adults sits in lockup, we have a problem on our hands. And while prison might not directly affect you, it certainly affects the society around you.

Here, Here! Though with 2.3 million in lock-up, I don't know there will be many people reading who haven't been affected by prison in one way or another.

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