Prison Reform
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Prison
The prison population is nearing 2.5 million people (year-end 2002) and rising at a rate of nearly three percent annually. (Prison) Close to eighty percent of those individuals released under the condition of parole are re-arrested within three years time. (Re-entry Trends) This certainly gives the impression that our criminal society is relatively undaunted by the thought of going to prison. The idea that "this place is fun--it's just like a big playground for criminals" (Wattier) is extremely common amongst inmates. Dan Russo stated that "If it wasn't for missing my friends and family, I wouldn't care if I left or not --it's a free ride." This can only mean one thing--somewhere behind the several thousand feet of razor wire and concrete walls --there are some very definite problems. One must also assume that our preventative--along with the rehabilitation--tactics must be re-evaluated and altered before we can even hope to show decreases in this "out of control" trend.
When asked, one prisoner stated that the biggest advantage for him was that he " gets fed, housed and taken care of all around for free. The "victims" have to work all day to pay taxes to feed and house me...