Why Prison Reform is Needed

I have always been interested in the prison system. Ever since I have been a child it has been a point of fascination. There is something about the idea of sending bad people into a building that over time will "miraculously" cure them through boredom of their societal flaws that makes me read every article and watch every movie
that relates to prisons.

Perhaps the reason I am so fascinated, however, is in the reality that they do not work very well. I am particularly fascinated with prison escape movies, articles detailing false convictions, harsh sentences, and the terrible conditions prisoners undergo. These movies wouldn't exist if our prisons weren't as flawed as they are. The nature of our prison system needs to be changed. First, certain drugs need to be legalized to curb the prison population and get rid of people that truly don't need to be there. Also, we must enact more rehabilitative and psychological programs in our prisons.In order to remove the criminal ideals from the inmates minds. Finally we must allow our prisoners to receive an education in all of our prisons. These are all big problems, but perhaps the largest involves the legalization of drugs.

There are over two million prisoners in the American prison system (Bureau of Justice Statistics). 24% of American prisoners are incarcerated on drug offenses while 9% are people incarcerated for simple possession. Their primary drug is marijuana
(Caulkins & Sevigny, 2005). If alcohol is legal, why not marijuana as well? Marijuana has been proven to be safer than alcohol, yet we make criminals out of it's users (Tvert, 2006). If we legalized marijuana the prison population could be cut by 9% (Caulkins & Sevigny, 2005). This would save a considerable amount, allowing for more funds to be allocated to educational or rehabilitative programs.