Nora Brennan, '26
The first prison built in the US was the Massachusetts State Prison during the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Soon after, Connecticut and Pennsylvania followed. While at first they could be considered more effective and more humane than capital punishment, over time, the system developed many flaws that plague it still today.
First, it’s important to understand that there isn’t one single prison system in the United States; there are state prisons, federal prisons, local jails, juvenile correctional facilities, immigration detention facilities, and Indian country jails. This adds more complication to these issues, because each system has different rules. These differences make it so that reforming one system, won’t necessarily reform another one of these systems.
Another problem is recidivism, which is the tendency for a criminal to re-offend. It has been found that these rates are highest for those arrested for the first time before the age of 18. Another high recidivism group is Native Americans, but they make up less than 1% of the prison population. Black prisoners have the second-highest recidivism rate and make up about 40% of total prisoners. According to a Prison Policy Initiative report, “At least 1 in 4 people who go to jail will be arrested again within the same year — often those dealing with poverty, mental illness, and substance use disorders, whose problems only worsen with incarceration.” This highlights the fact that certain personal vices don’t necessarily get fixed in prison, and some can even become worse. Prison isn’t fixing the issues that place people there; it’s just labeling people with a crime instead of trying to fix the circumstances that influenced the crime itself.
There is also a struggle to find jobs for some prisoners after being released. A BJS study found that one-third of federal prisoners released in 2010 did not find employment within four years. It’s hard for released prisoners to find jobs because they have a criminal record. For example, if a person has committed a felony, they are typically unable to secure employment in education, state and federal government, medical, and security fields. Also, many people in prison don’t even have a high school diploma, showing the lack of education they received. This can also make it exceptionally difficult, because the released prisoner may lack the skills that employers are seeking. Unquestionably, there may also be a certain stigma attached to prisoners that many employers may not want in their workplace.
Finally, there are concerns surrounding the labor of inmates in prison. Prisons rely on the labor of inmates to operate food service, laundry, and other things to keep the prison running. However, many of the prisoners receive low wages. A 2017 study found on average, incarcerated people earn between 86 cents and $3.45 per day, which is way below the minimum wage. This highlights how hard it can be to earn money to make a living that can help set them up for success following their release. Even with the small wages being earned, these typically go straight back to the prison, which charges prisoners for medical visits and hygiene items. Furthermore, some states pay prisoners nothing at all for their labor, even when some prisons implement it as a requirement if the person is medically able to work. With little regulation, some prisoners have few rights and or protection during their incarceration. If a prisoner refuses to work, they can face disciplinary action, such as losing privileges, being sent to solitary confinement, or even being denied parole.
While these are just a few of the problems our prison system faces in the current day, they highlight how our country is still struggling to implement incarceration in a way that is effective for both the system and the inmates themselves. The division in the system, re-offenses, struggle to find jobs, and labor in prisons create a mess of problems. While there has been some very small improvement in reforming the system, there is still a long way to go to make the large changes that the system needs.