The prison system in this country needs reform. According to recent studies we currently have less than 5% of the world’s population, and have around 25% of the world’s incarcerated prisoners. This is a staggering number, and shows an inherent flaw in our correctional system: In 2001, almost 6 million people were receiving punitive recourse from the U.S. government correctional system at the years end. From 1973 to 2000 the rate of incarceration quadrupled.
Prisons are not fixing the problem of chronic law breakers. Most ex-prisoners return to a life of crime and eventually prison. This leads to over crowded prisons that do little more than reinforce criminal behavioral patterns. Ultimately this problem is a reflection of cultural changes taking place in the U.S. Children are being ever more exposed to violence and pornography. Narcissism and materialism are on the rise and people are losing hope of achieving success. With out hope there's not much reason to worry about anything beyond present consequences.
I think that another problem is that most prisons are privatized. This basically means that they are a business. If they do not “correct” the issues in prisoners minds, then business is good. There is no motivation for the private sector to lower our crime rates; but plenty of reasons to maintain a steady influx of prisoners. Federal penitentiaries have shown a much lower rate of returning inmates than privatized.
As it stands now, what we are doing is not working. I think we should look into other means of correction, with empirical evidence and scientific study to back that choice of correction.
