When I think of home, I think of a place where there is more funding to low income communities. Where we see more people live to become productive in society. I recently watched Brittney Griner’s interview with Robin Roberts. She tells her story of being in a Russian prison. She spent 10 months in this prison system where the conditions are harsher than here is the U.S. Now there are many times in our lives where one bad decision can lead to a horrible consequence. In the case of Griner, this is what she described it as. She had been playing Basketball in Russia for about 10 years and she knew the rules. But in quickly packing her luggage, she forgot to remove the medical marijuana cartridge. She made it through TSA in the U.S. The dogs in Russia went past her when sniffing her bags. After going through the imaging scanner, it was discovered. This led to her arrest. Her ordeal in Russia made me think about prison and issues surrounding it here in the U.S.
There are many people in the prison system due to wrongful and warranted arrests. According to the Innocence Project, 1 in 100 Americans are in prison. Our country has the highest incarceration rates in the world. It affects the Black population most. There are 1 in 9 Black men in prison and 1 in 100 Black women. In the general population of our country, Black people only make up 13%, so the rates are disproportionate. The conditions in U.S. prisons are better than other places, but maximum security facilities are problematic. In these facilities, many must fight for their lives to survive, which takes a mental toll. As mentioned earlier, there are many people in the system due to wrongful arrests. These can be because of faulty forensics, inaccurate witness testimonies, and bad lawyers. In the last 30 years that have been over 3000 exonerations. Many of these people spent years in prison before this happened.
Each year, billions of taxpayers’ dollars are spent on prisons. Anyone who serves more than 1 year has a felony charge. This is to be reported for the rest of their life on job and loan applications. Now as mentioned before, one bad decision leads to bad consequences. There are many who go to prison at a young age and come out reformed. They want to make a better life, but they face discrimination and have a hard time rebuilding. This takes a toll on their mental and can lead to a cycle of repeated offenses. To survive in a society that requires money, they may engage in activity that can land them back to prison. As a society we must educate our youth and scare them straight with these stories. We should advocate for more funding for programs in our communities and less funding for prisons. More funding for opportunities upon release from prison as well to discourage a repeated event. No child grows up wanting to go to prison, but everyone’s circumstances are different. The time is now to focus on this change.