Prisons Full to the Brink

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American prisons are being filled to the brink. With new prisoners being transferred in daily and few being released back into the world, it is no wonder why the most important issue with today's prison system is the mass overcrowding taking place in our prisons. Prisons in America are being overcrowded with small time criminals. The majority of the incarcerated is due to violent crimes. However, another large group of those imprisoned are the drug offenders that were convicted for either possession or use.
I find the situation of jailing people for the possession of marijuana ridiculous. Yes, having marijuana is illegal; however, I hardly see it as a reason to serve years in a cage. Instead, as Gopnik mentions in his essay, "When the New York City police stopped and frisked kids, the main goal was not to jail them for having pot but to get their fingerprints." This system would work well since it keeps those with a lesser charge out of the already-crowded jail but keeps it easy to get them into the system when a more serious crime is committed.
Prisons need constant upkeep to make sure dangerous prisoners are secure in their cells and unable to escape into society where they then have the opportunity to harm innocents, but what if we are putting these innocents into the prison right alongside the more dangerous prisoners. Just because people are convicted of minor crimes does not mean they deserve a punishment that will put them into a system which would potentially ruin their lives. The possessors of drugs, embezzlers, con artists, all of these petty criminals, are currently sentenced to prison time if caught in many states. Instead of putting those that made small mistakes in prison with murderers and rapists, why not senten...

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...harged with minor crimes to not be imprisoned. However, if such a reform were to happen, it could contain points to help those who have committed minor crimes and allow them to remain part of society. After all, being part of society would increase the amount of money the prisons receive because those that committed minor crimes would still be paying their fair share of taxes.

Works Cited

Exum, Jelani Jefferson. "Sentencing, Drugs, And Prisons: A Lesson From Ohio." U. Tol. L. Rev., 42. (2010): 881. Print.
Gopnik, Adam. "The Caging of America." The New Yorker, 1/30. 2012: Print.
Rowl. "Too Many Going Back, Not Enough Getting Out? Supervision Violators, Probation Supervision, and Overcrowding in the Federal Bureau of Prisons." Federal Probation, 77. 2 (2013): 3--16. Print.
Stelloh, Tim. "California's Great Prison Experiment." The Nation, 6/24. 2013: 31-34, Print.

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