Justice is meant to serve public safety and maintain law and order, though many people wonder if it serves the public or the people profiting off it. The criminal justice system is a series of federal and private agencies, within the United States government. The purpose is to enforce laws, maintain peace and public safety within communities, and hold people accountable who have been accused or convicted of crimes. Chain-Gang All-Stars by Adjei-Brenyah is a social protest novel discussing the corruption within the United States criminal justice system. Adjei-Brenyah conveys what an alternate reality would look like with the criminal justice system at the forefront of society, while criticizing the brutality and corruption that tends to happen behind the scenes of for-profit prisons. While researching further I found various articles discussing corruption within for-profit prisons in the real world, often prioritizing revenue over inmates individual needs. Overall, the criminal justice system and for-profit prisons are corrupt, prioritizing money over public safety and justice. In order to ensure public safety, the criminal justice system needs to be reevaluated to support everyone's needs, and a better solution could consist of implementing more programs for inmates to learn from their actions and integrate back into society.  

Private prisons take away inmates' freedoms and often cost them their sanity. In Adjei-Brenyah’s Chain Gang All-Stars, Adjei-Brenyah uses the character Simon to exemplify the impact of long term solitary confinement, writing, “I see things sometimes. I’ve had plenty of sharp things rushed at me,” (Adjei-Brenyah 167). Adjei-Brenyah exemplifies the mental damage caused to Simon due to the conditions he faces in the prison. Simon stating, “I see things,” reveals that he has lost his sanity by no longer being able to differentiate what was real and what wasn’t. Adjei-Brenyah furthers this idea, writing, “The hole is without light, I don’t have eyes for twenty three hours a day. That other hour it is something I can’t understand or know or tell you about,” (Adjei-Brenyah 168). The imagery of Simon's environment within solidary confinement further conveys the damage done to Simon. Being kept in solitary confinement for so long cost him his sanity. The phrase “I can’t understand or know or tell you about” conveys the deep mental damage the prison had on him. Losing himself so much seeing light was difficult for him to understand. Adjei-Brenyah also conveyed that private prisons don’t only cost people their sanity, but they also limit inmates' individual freedoms. In Hendrix’s prison New Auburn Experimental Penitentiary, Hendrix stated that there “Your body belongs to the pain and not to you” (Adjei-Brenyah 63). Adjei-Brenyah exemplifies that not only did Hendrix not have authority over his body, but the prison guards used violence as a way to control inmates. When Hendrix says “belongs to the pain,” it reveals the way the prison took away people's freedoms to the extent of prisoners no longer being in control of their bodies. The Criminal Justice system doesn’t only operate this way in Adjei-Brenyah’s Chain-Gang All-Stars, but it operates this way in the real world as well. With “Profit-Making entities to be handed the responsibility of making determinations of individual liberty” (Lantigua-Williams). Which becomes damaging to the inmates rehabilitation by making “determinations of individual liberty” meaning the for profit prisons make decisions for inmates, which may not fulfill their individual needs. Ultimately for-profit prisons take away individual liberty, costing inmates to suffer the mental consequences.

Private prisons value money over rehabilitation and safety for inmates. Many private for profit prisons “Make money by warehousing people, and will need to refill their buildings in order to remain in operation,” (Lantigua-Williams The Atlantic). Making for profit institutions ineffective, by focusing mainly on refilling their prisons in order to make profit. The phrase “warehousing people” dehumanizes inmates and exemplifies the Criminal Justice System overlooking the need for rehabilitation. Similarly in Chang Gang All-Stars Adjei-Brenyah explains that, “many of these private facilities had government contracts that were determined by the number of inmates incarcerated—more prisoners, bigger contracts,” (Adjei-Brenyah 173). Adjei-Brenyah furthers the point that for-profit prisons operate like businesses, benefitting from a higher number of people incarcerated. Adjei-Brenyah, specifying the  "more prisoners, bigger contracts,” conveys that the Criminal Justice system rewards private institutions for keeping their prisons full, instead of creating rewards for rehabilitation and increasing public safety. In order for there to be change within the Criminal Justice System “Every program, every policy, that now privileges revenue over safety and justice can be realigned,” (Subramiam, Eisen). Furthermore conveying the importance of the Criminal Justice system being “realigned” to support inmates individual needs and rehabilitation, and public safety, instead of prioritizing financial gain. Overall the Criminal Justice system doesn’t support the individual needs of inmates putting financial gain over prisoners, and overall needs to be realigned to put the needs of the people over the reward of profit.

 Some people may believe for profit prisons are necessary to hold prisoners accountable and maintain law and order. Goodwin University stresses the importance of the Criminal Justice system, specifying that, “now, more than ever, it is critical that we have educated, honest, and quality professionals working in these sectors” (Goodwin University).  In order to feel safe and serve justice within society. Though I believe it is necessary for “educated, honest, and quality professionals” to work within law enforcement and hold people accountable for their mistakes. I argue that the Criminal Justice System and for-profit prisons are corrupt, operating more like a business to make profit, while overlooking the needs for rehabilitation and law and order.  Adjei-Brenyah demonstrates the corrupt values of the Criminal Justice system, with law enforcement using torture devices to inflict physical and mental pain onto inmates, “to be influenced is to have your neural pathways rewritten so that you can become a better vessel for physical hurt. It allows your brain to take more than it should ever. It changes you in ways I don’t want to disco—The black rod sticks into my neck and—” (Adjei-Brenyah 196). Demonstrating corruption within law enforcement, with prison guards using the Influencer on inmates to “become a better vessel for physical hurt”.  Supporting the argument that the Criminal Justice system needs to be reevaluated, to prevent law enforcement who are not, “educated, honest” from working in the Criminal justice system.  Not only do private prisons ignore the safety of inmates but , “private prisons deliberately exclude people with high medical care costs from their contracts,”  (Palta). In order to make a higher profit, they don’t want to use their money on “medical care,” proving that for-profit prisons have corrupt values. Ultimately private for-profit prisons are motivated by money, operating like businesses, instead of centers for rehabilitation.

While reading Chain-Gang All-Stars by Adjei-Brenyah and various articles by The Guardian and The American Physiological Association, I learned that violence in the media is damaging to society, because it desensitizes people to real world violence, while normalizing aggressive behavior. Adjei-Brenyah uses the scene where Mari protested the death matches by going into the battleground to illustrate the reaction the guards had to Mari protesting. When, “one of the officers pulled a weapon that looked like a gun from his side and shot a black rod into Mari’s neck. And the entire stadium saw as Mari was influenced,” (Adjei-Brenyah 371).  Mari’s character demonstrates how law enforcement in society typically responds with violence, instead of accountability and redirection. Adjei-Brenyah, including the words, “the entire stadium saw” emphasizes the normalization of violence within society, by showcasing the desensitization of Mari’s society to real world violence by insinuating that watching everyday civilians being tortured was a normal event. The Guardian supported this idea in an article titled “San Francisco jail inmates allegedly forced into gladiator-style fights” supported the point that violence in media normalizes real world violence by stating that, “prison guards allegedly forced inmates to engage in gladiator-style fights for ‘sadistic pleasure” and betting” (The Guardian). The words “sadistic pleasure” reveal that when violence is seen as entertainment it doesn’t only normalize it, but it becomes dangerous by potentially causing people to be forced into a dangerous environment to please others. Lastly, "research has found that exposure to media violence can desensitize people to violence in the real world” (The American Psychological Association). The American Psychological Association suggests that when people  repeatedly consume violent media, they may view violent or aggressive behaviors as normal due to being desensitized to it.  Ultimately the media plays a huge role in how society views and treats violence in the real world, normalizing violent or aggressive behaviors inevitably damaging society as a whole. 

In conclusion, both Chain-Gang All-Stars by Adjei-Brenyah and real world evidence reveal how the incentive of profit within prisons leads to corruption within prisons. Adjei-Brenyah demonstrated the dangers in the media and the criminal justice system valuing profit over people. Real world evidence conveyed that for-profit private prisons prioritize financial gain, and operate like businesses rather than centers for rehabilitation. This is a major issue within society because when the criminal justice system prioritizes profit over public safety communities may suffer, by having law enforcement that doesn’t take safety seriously. The criminal justice system needs to be reevaluated to prioritize rehabilitation, and public safety over profit and revenue. This can be done through investing funding on programs that will help inmates integrate back into society and take accountability.