Inhumane In Prisons

564 Words3 Pages
Imagine being locked in a tiny room, think 6’ by 4’, with drab walls and a delipidated mattress. Imagine staying in this room for 23 hours of a day. Now add another day, and another, and on until you have been locked in this room for over 10 years. This the reality of 80,000 U.S. inmates on any given day (NPR.org). As if these conditions weren’t enough to send a person crazy, multiply that torture with the simultaneous experience of mental illness or a pregnancy. This inhumane treatment of prisoners has become the backbone of the American prison system and thus an American social problem. It is time for us to eradicate the idea that such a despicable practice is acceptable, and mend the social-conflict, “a theoretical framework that sees society as divided by inequality and conflict,” (NPR.org) that has led to such a dark place in human history. As aforementioned, the horrific scene you were asked to imagine moments ago is in fact the day-to-day life of tens of thousands of people. Anthony Goodman, a former inmate, shares his perspective, “This institution…show more content…
You can't do much about it because the most important thing in a prison is control,” (qtd. Fred Kellner, NPR.org). While Kellner is clearly disgruntled regarding the way America runs prisons, he has no real power in the matter. Social-conflict has developed a wall of inequality between convicts and everyone else. Because of the crimes these people have committed, violent or otherwise, they are subjected to extreme violations of their inalienable, United Nations-given human rights, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” (UN.org) Forcing a human being, a social and living creature, to spend over 95% of their life in a miniscule enclosure without necessary, meaningful human interaction is nothing short of
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