Prisoners Get The Easy Way Out

In August of 2013, a homeless man by the name of Thomas Dean Alsip, robbed an Oregon bank of one dollar, and then proceeded to sit in the lobby of the bank, awaiting the authorities for his arrest. His motive: to receive the free health care available to inmates in federal prisons. While this seems a bit extreme, there is sound reasoning to his decision. The state of California spends almost $50,000 per inmate annually, almost five times as much as it spends on the average student (Yellin). This outrageous amount goes to their room and board salary for the prison guards and general healthcare. While it is agreed that we should treat these criminals as human beings, it is ridiculous to be spending this much money on those who have broken laws that normal citizens must adhere to daily. We should have restrictions on government spending for inmates that requires those who are able bodied to earn the services they receive behind bars.

The federal prison system has changed greatly since its incorporation in the 1700s. Before implementing the imprisonment system, corporal punishment was the main way criminals atoned for their offenses (Pollock 2). This included public humiliation, banishment, and paying fines for lesser offenses (Pollock 2). These systems were accompanied by a primitive version of imprisonment, the stocks. Locking people up for public ridicule taught these criminals the error of their crimes. However, with the introduction of the Penitentiary in the early 1800s, these old school methods were less relied upon as our nation grew. Formed from the Christian idea of penitence, thinking and learning from your sins, inmates were kept in these foundations until they had repented for their crimes (Pollock 4). Altho...

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...ss regulations on inmates. This article was written by a professor’s assistant and will be taken as an opinion, not an authority on the subject matter.

Staples, William G. Castles of our Conscience. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1990. 19-42. Print.

This book was meant to show how our idealism of prisons has evolved over the last 20 years. I will be using this text to show past uses of privatized prisons and how they can punish criminals while boosting our economy. Staples received his PhD from the University of Southern California and focuses on Political and Economic Sociology.

"Humanitarianism." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 4 June 2014. .

Yellin, Tal. "Education vs Prison Costs." CNN Money. CNN Money, 2012. Web. 4 June 2014. .