Prisons in America reflect very poorly on our criminal justice system. Outsiders look at our country as though we've got it all together. And although we may have it more together than other countries, our prisons are in need of some serious help. Our prisons are either too harsh or too appealing.
Many times when a criminal is convicted of a crime the word prison sparks fear into their mind. At times the prisons they are being sent to are a lot harder on them than the streets were. In the news at least twice a month you will hear a story about justice gone bad. The inmates fight each other sometimes until someone is very seriously hurt, or is killed. And if the inmates are not the people handing out the punishments then at times it is the guards dealing them out. Although the people in the prisons are thought to not be societies best, they are too entitled to their rights and they should not be forced to endure physical or mental abuse.
While some prisons are too harsh, there are others that make life way too easy on some prisoners. When a person enters a prison most of the time they are expecting the worst, but in reality what they may be heading to is a place better than what they call home. In some prisons the prisoners who are on good behavior terms are given such rewards as a T.V, cable, and extra meals. These prisons rarely offer the kind of discipline a criminal needs to reform.
I think that the only real way for our country to see what its prisons are like inside the bars, we would have to actually be placed inside one. I think that the government should secretly place a person into its well known prisons then have that person report back to them about the conditions of the buildings and the way they were treated. This could be the only true way to determine whether or not a prison is doing the job of reforming our nation's criminal population.
In closing when you think about criminals and the places they my be heading remind your self that they could either be heading to a place that would teach them nothing or a place that could potentially destroy them.