The Solutions to the Failing Prison System

Imagine a young student who attends an inner-city school. He is merely days from graduating, and is one of the few in his class ready to graduate. His future looks bright. However, one stupid decision will ruin his life forever. This young student unknowingly brought a large stash of marijuana to school the day of a random search. This resulted in a felony drug charge, a prison sentence of two years, and a fine of $100,000. Instead of becoming a bright young prospect from the inner city, he has become another disappointing statistic. Once this young man serves his time, he will have missed out on two years of his life due to one mistake. There were no second-chances, and there was little assistance after this young man left. It would be impossible for this man to attend college and repay his fine, so he is forced to work jobs willing to hire someone recently out of jail and without a college degree. This man is forced to live his life in debt, or attempt risky, and likely illegal, procedures to put him into a livable wage. One mistake ruined this man’s life due to the broken system the U.S. penal system is based on.

The US penal system has infamously remained nearly unchanged in the past 50 years, with an emphasis on punishing criminals’ misdeeds, rather than rehabilitate them. This has resulted with the U.S. prison population on the rise with an already overcrowded system. This mass incarceration in the past few decades has resulted in an inescapable prison and fine system that forces former convicts further into a vicious cycle of debt. Little change to a broken system has resulted in an obvious outcome: little improvement. In reality, prisoners are returning to prison more than ever. Although U.S. prison system has not succee...

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...rs need to be released on parole have collapsed. The operating cost for the California’s prison system is at a staggering $10 billion (Sterngold). If growth stays like this, the California prison system will most certainly collapse. However, not improving the school system will result in the same young uneducated adults going straight from school to jail. This situation puts the U.S. in a serious debacle between a short term or long term solution. It is clear that education is the answer to prevent the prison system’s failure and improve it. Putting funds into both educating prisoners and improving inner city schools, where a large majority of students end up going to prison, is the major solution to this problem. However this project will be costly and requires complete agreement between the state and federal governments. The possibility of this remains to be seen.