Problems in The Prison System of The United States

The main purpose for the prison system in the U. S. is for retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation. In the U. S. people are imprisoned every day. The U. S. prison system imprisons more of its citizens for more crimes, and for longer periods of time than any other country. As stated in Philosophy talk “At the beginning of 2008, nearly two and a half million people were in prison in the US. That’s one in every one hundred adults. China, with a population about four times ours, had a prison population of about one and a half million during that same period”. I truly believe that the primary purpose of the prison system should be to safely incarcerate criminals until the time in which they can be rehabilitated and to be made productive, law-abiding citizens of society.

The reason why I chose this topic is because I was interested in if it is ok to punish people for their crimes, is that choose ours to make, or is it really for justice. Is there a better way of addressing these kinds’ situations?

I find the prison system to be morally correct because it provides all the lessons a man needs to know enabling him to function in society. For example as it states in punishment fails rehabilitation works “Generations of research has shown that the more severely children are punished, the more violent they become, as children and as adults. The same is true of adults, especially those in prison. So the only rational purpose for a prison is to restrain those who are violent from Inflicting harm on themselves or others, while we help them to change their behavior from that pattern to one that is nonviolent and even constructive, so that they can return to the community”. This quote is a good example as to why people become who they are whether it is kind or violent. When coming from prison it is like starting a new life.

The U. S. is a violent country. That much can be said about other continents. The prisons in the U. S. are overflowing with people. There is violence overflowing in the cities. With so many people to account for it is not a sure fact that the criminals in the prison system will become law-abiding citizens of this country. It takes money and preparation to run a prison. As is States in Philosophy talk “The states spent almost fifty billion dollars on incarceration in 2007.

That’s up from ten billion in 1987 – adjusting for inflation, that’s an increase of a hundred twenty-seven percent”. This quote explains the unnecessary amount of money that we spend on prison that could be put to use doing something else. There is also no guarantee for the prison system will work on everyone. When criminals leave the system it is hard for them to find jobs. Some criminal go back to the way they were before prison, due to the lack of support and money. In other cases some criminals have serious mental health issues. This makes it harder for them to adopt to society and the mainstream culture.

In conclusion I find that the prison system is not perfect, but it can help criminals rehabilitated to be better citizens. The prison system is to help criminal that have mental issues or problems with their behavior. These criminals are people too. They have families of their own. A just for that purpose that is why helping criminal to be rehabilitated into society is morally good.