American Prisons, A Bandaid Over A Broken System

It is beyond contention that the growth of poverty, crime, violence and incarceration rates within predominantly black and latino inner city communities is perpetuated by biased drug laws, a negatively incentivized police force, and the prison industrial complex. These three forces combined are hugely responsible for the spike in prison construction and incarceration rates, followed by the systematic disenfranchisement of low class American citizens, specifically black and brown men. For those unaware of the corruption and prejudice surrounding these issues, the illusion of safety that the police and prison industry go to great lengths to maintain is graciously embraced. As I see it, this outlook (one taken by a huge percentage of the American populous) is the true root of the problem. These people are more than willing to dish out millions annually for the construction, staffing, maintenance, and expansion of crime fighting agencies and corrections facilities. This to them seems the appropriate and logical response and use of funds, they are paying for a service that insures their relative safety despite the fact that this very same system has proven to exacerbate poverty, crime, and violence in the long run. Like placing a bandaid over a ruptured artery, these tax payers and politicians alike having nothing but the short term in mind, and it is this outlook that has infected our entire outlook on policy and governance. Ask them to instead allocate an equivalent amount of energy, time, and resources to the education of urban teens and the strengthening of inner city infrastructure and they immediately throw their hands up in protest. To them this strategy is unfair, and those benefitting from it are undeserving or others hand outs. The tax payers would rather have they illusion of their tax dollars being utilized exclusively in their best interest then to fund a productive, community based, restorative project. This classic aggressive stance against perceived socialism or affirmative action has plagued America for its entire existence. So many are convinced that you only deserve what you can pay for, but they never stop to think about the historical and systematic consequences that led to their wealth or others poverty. If we are going to fix this country, we need to start with values and policies by which we appropriate resources and services. An excellent model for this is self-made millionaire Harris Rosen, who adopted a Florida neighborhood called Tangelo Park, cut the crime rate in half, and increased the high school graudation rate from 25% to 100% by giving everyone free daycare and all high school graduates scholarships. Here is a link further detailing his work and philosophy... http://pegasus.ucf.edu/story/rosen/