Reflection About Mass Inarceration

When I first came to the University of Illinois, I knew I was going to be in the Honors LLC dorm, but I didn’t know that there was a class to go along with it until my registration day. I didn’t know what CHP 199 stood for and then when it came to the Honors LLC orientation, I finally figured out what the class was about. At the orientation, the presenters even said, “I know your just coming into college, but we aren’t giving you a light topic, mass incarceration.” At that moment I didn’t know what to expect, because I thought I had no experience with mass incarceration. I had never been to a prison, never know a prisoner, or I though I had never been associated with any type of law enforcement besides getting pulled over once. I didn’t think I was going to like this class just because of the two-word topic. Throughout the semester my viewpoint about this pressing topic changed. I said earlier that I thought I had no connection to mass incarceration like we talked about on the first or second day of class. This really connects into my main take away from this class: the way I am connected to mass incarceration even if I don’t feel like I am and learning about the astronomical problems with mass

I learned not to look at the problem at face value, even if that still has tremendous meaning, and look deeper into the problem. The face value is just the sheer number of prisoners, which is a massive number that is a huge problem, but also look at the causes and meaning of the numbers and the problems that lead to the problem. Learning about new problems every week gave me a good understanding of the topic and I delved way deeper in to the topic. This really helps me learn about a relevant topic in today’s society, but it also gives me useful ways to connect topics in my regular college