Half of Americas Prison Population do Not Deserve to Be There!!

 Not  Everyone In Prison Deserves to be There

Stereotypes are responsible for the mistreatment of people every day. It is often much easier to judge someone on what you think you know, rather than what is actually true. Many groups are unfairly lumped into one stereotype or another. These groupings are often based upon something as insubstantial as a stereotype which has been heard over and over, which is now taken as fact. Former prisoners in America are faced with several stereotypes. I am focusing on the misconception that “all people in prison deserve to be there .” I intend to show how incorrect this stereotype is.

In order to dispel the stereotype, I will show that of all the people currently imprisoned in America, only a small percentage are there for violent crimes. In fact, the Federal Bureau of Prisons statistics show that only 4.2 % of people in federal prisons are incarcerated for violent crimes. The percentage in state prisons is higher, but only slightly. This brings up the question of who is incarcerated? And who is profiting from these peoples incarceration? According to Gerald Bracey, the crime rate has dropped in the past 30 years. He also says that during the same 30 year time period the incarceration rate has soared from 313 per 100,000, to 736 per 100,000 ( para 2). Looking at the figures provided it becomes evident there is something odd going on. If the people incarcerated are not there for violent crimes, what then? The answer lies in the “war on drugs,” which really began when President Nixon created the Drug Enforcement Administration in 1973. Claire Suddeth says that it was then that Nixon announced “ an all -out global war on the drug menace” which has carried on to this day (para 3). Everyone expects those who do harm to others in the form of criminal acts to be punished. It has become clear though, that punishment does little to solve the problem of addiction. This brings me squarely back to my position that not everyone who is in prison deserves to be there.

In every country in the world people who are suffering from a disease are treated with respect. The general consensus is that anyone can be afflicted. Having a disease carries with it no social stigma. People are not locked up in jails or prisons for having Cancer, or heart disease, or diabetes. The sick are treated in hopes that the disease can be eliminated, or at the least put into some form of control which will arrest the progress..of the disease. In the medical community today there are certain criteria which must be met before something is classified as a disease. According to addiction treatment expert Carl-Peter Lehmann these criteria are as follows: The condition must be 1.) Primary, 2.) Progressive, 3.)Chronic, and 4.) Fatal. Drug and alcohol addicts meet all of these criterion( para 4). The current situation has experts split on whether drug addiction is a disease. The division remains around half on each side of the issue. Most in the medical community treat addiction as a disease. The other half of the equation involves lawmakers who are very conservative. These view addicticts as having a defect of character. These conservatives believe punishment is the answer. The justice system is rife with instances of addicts returning to prisons for relapsing. In short, these addicts have been criminalized for suffering from a disease. Those in charge seem unable, or unwilling to look at the situation objectively. Past failures are ignored. Facts are disputed.

Another aspect of this issue involves money. There are privately owned and operated prisons springing up all over America. Prisons owned by large corporations, which are publicly traded on the open market. The primary motive is profit for the shareholders. These corporations have resources which they use to influence lawmakers. Lobbyists are all over Washington letting lawmakers know in no uncertain terms which laws to support and which laws to kill. In fact, these Political Action Committees even go as far as writing the legislation they desire to become laws. This would seem to be a conflict of interest, nevertheless, this is how things are done. Legislators are fairly receptive to the requests of Corporations which finance their campaigns. The lobby for private prisons is dead set against the legalization of drugs. If the non-violent drug offenders were released from prisons there would be no need for the services they provide.

The United States has criminalized a large portion of its population. The government has in effect declared war upon its citizens. The drug laws are supposedly in place to protect the citizenry from the dangers of addiction. The irony of these laws is the fact that more people die each year from Cancer, which is caused by legal tobacco, than die from all illegal drugs combined. What exactly are we trying to accomplish with these laws which criminalize people afflicted with a disease? Do we put cancer patients into prison when they develop more cancer after treatment? Do we lock up diabetics if they do not properly manage their disease and end up hospitalized for their failure?

I propose that it is a symptom of governmental insanity to continue on a course of action which has not produced the desired results. The incarceration of addicts has become a business. The corrections industry and the police departments all profit from these laws, which are doing nothing but costing the taxpayer in the long term.

The stereotype which says that everyone in prison deserves to be there is wrong. It has been the prevalent attitude for far to long. If we were to release the people who are incarcerated for suffering from a disease, approximately half of the prison population would vanish with the stroke of a pen. The exact way so many were criminalized in the first place. These people, drug addicts they might be, would be working and paying taxes and supporting their families. Not languishing away in some prison cell becoming bitter at the taxpayers expense. Not all people who are in prison deserve to be there.

written  by  Michael  McCoy

come  to mikesfreedomblog.com  for  more  stories about  rights  being  stoles  from  you, and  also criminal  legislators.

Works Cited

Bracey, Gerald W. “Locked Up, Locked Out.” Phi Delta Kappan 88.3 (2006):253-254. Teacher , Reference Center. Web. 21 Feb. 2012.

Lehmann,Carl-Peter.”Alcoholism and Drug Addiction-A Disease Or Not?” Ezine@rticles ……..Http://EzineArticles.com/?expert-Carkl-Peter_Lehmann. Web. 2 Feb.2012.

Suddeth, Claire. “The War on Drugs.” Time. Web. Http://www.time.com/time/world/article .

Web. 25 Mar.2009.