6.1 Incarceration Nation

• How did America's prisons become so large?
• What are the implications of maintaining an incarcerated population?
• What are some possible reforms to the system and what steps would they require?

Prison overcrowding and a massive incarcerated population stands as one of the largest challenges to the American democratic experiment. While we stand as a symbol of the power of elections we also serve as a reminder that not all policies and intentions of the justice system are being met. The "prison problem" has several distinct and differing components that each have a distinct but inter-related set of circumstances:

Incarceration Rates: The United States has the highest percentage of people locked up and the the highest absolute prison population in the world.

Prison Overcrowding: American prisons are massively overcrowded with prison populations that are difficult to manage, poorly treated, and in many

cases permanent.

Recidivism Rates: Invariably people who are in prison are far more likely to return to prison again in their lives. This rate of re-incarceration or recidivism is an indicator of the failure of prisons to reform and reeducate prisoners to prepare them for the general population.

Before we examine the challenges to the penal system today, take a moment to learn about what the historical attempts to make a humane prison looked like.

This is a short piece about a visit to this historic prison: