Try to imagine what it would feel like when you're sentenced to 200 years in prison. You'll never see the outside world again until the day you die. That's terrible of course, but only the beginning of the horrors awaiting prisoners when prison is an industry...
source: Wikimedia Commons
In every industry, for profits to be maximized, costs are minimized. When a building crashes down for no apparent reason, you can bet it's because the builders tried to cut costs and used inferior materials and methods. When there are many worker related accidents in a production facility, you can bet the owners of that facility cut as many corners as possible with regards to worker safety. And if you think the guilty parties will improve their ways after being sentenced or fined, think again; it all comes down, like everything else in capitalism, to a cost-benefit analysis, and if paying the fines costs less than improving worker safety, well, the workplace will remain dangerous.
Prisons in America are also an industry now. And while workers and customers outside the prison walls have limited possibilities to complain, protest or sue, the customers of the prison industrial complex have no say at all. Worse even, if they complain about finding a rat in their evening "dinner", it's likely that next time they'll find rats and cockroaches in there. And if you make your prisoners work for essentially no pay at all, how exactly is that any different than slavery? Just another question that pops up in my head when thinking about prisons and how we deal with those who were sent there. Let's not forget that these prisoners are still human beings; you'll soon see, after watching the below linked video, that prisoners are being treated as less than human, their significance as a breathing, living, conscious being completely overshadowed by their significance to the bottom-line of the industry.
I found this TED talk by Shaun Attwood, who faced 200 years in prison, but eventually only had to serve a couple of them. He's out now and he goes around telling the story about his years in prison. His story about those years is an extraordinary and eye-opening one. I humbly invite you to listen to his experiences and how they changed his life. And while listening, keep in mind that he's talking about an industry. Also keep in mind that prisoners ideally should be rehabilitated, prepared to enter society again. When you hear Shaun's story though, it'll become clear why so many enter prison as normal persons, maybe for petty theft, because of the three-strikes law, or because of owning some weed, and come out as hardened criminals.
Shaun's story is ultimately a happy one though, despite all the horrors he's gone through. You see, he was a wealthy man with lots of material possessions before he was sent to jail. While he was there though, he learned about the truly important things in life. I humbly invite you all to take 16 minutes of your time and listen to the man, hear how he learned about happiness under the most dreadful of circumstances...
What facing 200 prison years taught me about happiness | Shaun Attwood | TEDxHSG
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