Hello. My name is Khalil Hammond. This is a piece called “Derelict and Tyranny.” I often hear people say the system is broken, but I don’t think that it is. I believe that it operates exactly how it was intended to, which is to frustrate, humiliate, dehumanize and break the human beings encapsulated within it, as a means to deter societal onlookers from rebelling against it. In a majority politically unconscious society of laws and order, this system seems to serve a harsh but necessary purpose on the surface. However, if some digging was done, it would be realized that the state of our current system is having an overall detrimental impact on our society. To more narrow the focus of my point, I place the focus on prisons and the purpose they are not serving.
Many studies, reports, and analysts of the criminal justice system have found that poverty, a lack of education, broken family bonds, and a lack of employment or employment opportunities are the leading causes for why people turn to criminal activity for resolve. If these are/were the biggest problems and rehabilitation is the goal behind prisons, then why aren’t solutions to these issues the focal point of local governments or officials employed to maintain a prison? The simple and most logical answer is that those in charge of, and employed, by the system benefit from it operating to a tune of organized chaos and confusion. Basically, rehabilitation is not the goal. As the recidivism rate fluctuates, it never significantly decreases, which should be indication that the current mode of operations isn’t working for the agenda alleged.
One of the biggest issues that I see is that there is no real oversight coming from outside of these prisons to keep employees honest about what’s happening inside of them. This is why, on occasion, employees are able to sexually and/or physically assault prisoners, steal from prisoners, kill prisoners, harass and/or antagonize prisoners through deprivations and hostile interactions, and then falsely report what occurs with impunity. This doesn’t teach the inmate populous how to become productive members of society. Hence, the recidivism rate — which should be alarming to those in society — is that the majority of those subjected to these systematic oppressions for years, will be returned into society one day, worse than when they came to prison. Some may view this as a choice, without completely understanding the psychological effects of long term incarceration or the human conditioning of the incarcerated. However, without a proposed solution, we are doomed to perpetually continue the current disastrous cycle. As the start to create a solution for these institutional issues within the system, I propose that our society pushes our elected officials to establish a prison oversight board, and require all prison guards to wear body cameras. There has to be checks and balances.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
