Judicial System

A couple weeks ago I saw a statistic that said 1 in every hundred people in the U.S. is in our prison system. That's 1.8 million people currently behind bars. We have the largest prison population in the world. That's just a staggering statistic especially when you think about the number of people that are no longer serving time but once did (over 4 million people). When i read the statistic i tried to think about a good blog post but was having a hard time deciding what direction to take it.

I thought about taking an anti-drug enforcement stance in favor of drug rehabilitation. I find this an interesting topic but wasn't quite prepared to tackle the topic. Some basic thoughts are:

1. Prisons are filled with non-violent criminal, what is the the actual cost to house these prisoners - is rehab a better solution?
2. Will prison time actually prevent a relapse; violent or non violent?
3. Do prisons increase or decrease the potential for future criminal/violent actions?
4. Do prisons act as a training ground for criminals?

So, instead of taking on these very interesting concepts I decided to show a video and ask a couple questions. A 15 year old girl was arrested for driving without a license. The video shows excessive abuse by the officers taking care of her. I have read reports of abuse within the prison system but always assumed there were extenuating circumstances. There had to be something going on that the cameras didn't see to justify the actions, right? Well, this video dispels that assumption.

This is a 15 year old girl. There's nothing that could justify the abuse and punishment she receives from the guards. There's no way the guards could possibly feel threatened by her. If they did, working in a prison probably wasn't the best profession.

If this can happen in plain view of a camera, just imagine what is happening behind the watchful eye of the cameras. The majority of the prisoners deserves to be there. Many have commuted heinous crimes but that doesn't justify submitting them to abuse. It's so cliche but here it comes...Two wrongs don't make a right.

Prison is a terrible place on its own. The guards should be there to keep order not to abuse.