PRISONER EXPRESS

This, per se, is not a theme writing topic, insomuch as it has not been listed as a topic, nor has a deadline been issued. At the same time, I feel utterly compelled to write it.

The prison system within the United States, in my opinion, is seriously flawed. The prison system in Pennsylvania, where I am incarcerated, ranks at the top of the list of states that need to take a serious look at their prisons.

In order to fully grasp the whole concept of prison, or penitentiary, we need to understand its conception. Eastern State Penitentiary, located in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, was the first state pen within the United States. The Quakers developed the concept, as a place for those convicted of a crime to pay penance for their crimes, thus the term penitentiary was born.

Since then, the prison system has evolved into an industry--warehousing inmates. In Pennsylvania, one need not be convicted of a felony to receive a state prison sentence--a simple misdemeanor will suffice. Hypothetically, someone may be convicted of a minor offense, and be sent to serve a sentence alongside someone who is convicted of murder or some other serious offense.

The prison system then becomes a criminal college for the individual. The parole board in Pennsylvania routinely denies inmates parole with no just cause. Pennsylvania sentencing mandates a minimum and maximum sentence, so even if an offender completes all the programs he is mandated to complete, and remains misconduct-free, he stands an unbelievably good chance at still not being released. The Parole Board, in essence, sentences the individual to serve additional time.

Inmates begin to feel contempt towards the system. When these inmates are finally released, they often go on to commit more serious offenses.

A major contributing factor in the Pennsylvania justice system is that judges are more concerned with conviction rates and retribution than rehabilitation. So in essence, we as a society are more concerned about making one pay for his mistakes, rather than promoting rehabilitation and providing the necessary skills that would enable the individual to become a productive member of society.

Reading statistics, children of an incarcerated parent are at least twice as likely to be arrested throughout their lives than children without an incarcerated parent. Each judge that passes a sentence onto an individual also sentences the family of that person. They are left to fend for themselves. With the rate of children eventually becoming incarcerated themselves; this becomes job security, doesn't it?

Being able to obtain student loans to attend college courses via correspondence or otherwise, has also been taken away from inmates. Rather than enabling inmates to obtain education that will grant them the necessary skills to become a productive member of society upon release, inmates are left with very few options. Most inmates leave the prison system no more educated than when they entered.

Pennsylvania Department of Corrections also has a policy in which they seize 20% of all money that many inmates receive. This is under the guise that the money will be used to go towards fines and court costs. The wages that inmates are paid for working within the D.O.C. are so menial that this ends up translating to where many inmates do not have the money to purchase necessities such as toothpaste and deodorant. The inmate's family might scrape a small gift to send to the inmate; however these gifts are also subject to the 20% seizure. Could these fines and costs not wait until the inmate is in some kind of financial situation that will enable him to pay?

The list of things that are being and have been taken away could go on and on. What has the D.O.C. given to the inmates to ensure that they will not be back? How are they ensuring that rehabilitation is actually taking place?

Why are prisons now seen as an industry? Why are prisons and prison administration not at least granting inmates the chance to stay out of prison? Sentences are getting longer and longer, while rehabilitation methods become scarcer and scarcer. Who pays for this industry? The inmate, the inmate's family, the American taxpayer, and yes, society in general. Everyone bears the costs of maintaining prisons with unbelievable budgets. Is it not sad that nowhere in these budgets are there solid options to help inmates stay out of prison?