America has its flaws, just like any country. But there’s this one flaw that goes unnoticed by the general public. The Industrial Prison Complex is this flaw. The Industrial Prison Complex, prison for short, are government operated buildings that holds criminals faced with a sentence. Prisons are usually run by tax money, and that tax money goes to waste really quickly. All your hard earned money, most of it taken away from the IRS and a fraction of that money goes to prisons. That money gets spent on food, clothes, and maintenance. Also wasted on inmates with life sentences, a report in 2013 showed that around 600,000 people were imprisoned in federal prisons and each meal for each prisoner is averaged $2.40, let's say 200,000 inmates had life sentences without parole. That’d be $1440 dollars per day, since prisoners get 3 meals a day. That doesn’t even count the other prisoners, these are tax money being wasted on people that are meant to die in this certain place, and this report was from 2013, there could be tons more people in prison, the statistics I have shown is a general idea on how badly money is wasted. What’s the point of keeping an inmate alive, if they will stay there until they die and all that tax money goes to waste? And, if you keep a person behind bars until death, there’s a possibility for wasted potential. A prisoner could have the ability to cure cancer, or having knowledge of creating Cold Fusion, but since they’re in the prison with no chance of getting out, we’ll never get the potential these people might offer. What’s worse is that inmates are getting beat and harmed by the guards. People that are ordered to not harm the inmate unless they harm them, are obviously not following that order. Well, not all guards do that, but little doesn’t mean none. In 2010-2015, there were 120 cases of inmates being harmed in the New York State. There can be tons more cases of reports, even ones that go under the radar.

Prisons usually give inmates 6-10 hours outside of bars, but 20% of inmates only get 2 hours outside of their cell. What’s the point of that? Just let them sleep in their cell and then let them do recreation projects and things to do outside on the yard, like basketball or whatever. All of these tax dollars are going to waste anyway, might as well buy them a few balls, bats, and legos. Prisons in the UK had more than legos, they gave prisoners opportunities to function in society better, they teach the prisoners right from wrong and discipline them to make sure they don't end up in prison. In the US though, it’s highly likely an ex convict will end up back in prison because US prisons don’t help them to realize what they’re doing wrong. Ex convicts will feel like wild animals on how they’re treated and will continue pulling back door deals since they are looked down on and need to do something illegal to make progress.

Back to the statement of inmates being released then going back. It’s highly likely for them to back in prison. They are treated like rabid animals and aren’t allowed chances to become a functioning member of society. Ex convicts are not allowed to work at government jobs and the fact that they have been in prison will show on their records, highly decreasing the chances of them getting a job. They’ll only get hired under desperation most likely, since some businesses are extremely under staffed. Why can’t we give prisoners another chance? Maybe put some more use into the wasted tax dollars and run them through many programs and helpful guidance to help them, then get rid of the mentality of “all ex convicts are evil” and let them have government jobs, nothing too big, maybe just the postal system. Maybe they landed in prison because of their mental state. There are plenty of prisoners that have been abused, and they want to do the same to people. When have I ever heard of a therapy session for a prisoner with an unsafe mental state? Never. I have never ever heard of therapy session for a prisoner, maybe foreign ones that non federal agents release, but ones some organization wants to release. Like art therapy or writing, to take off the major crime off the inmates head, and lets them relax and draw.
Some steps the government can make, are allowing ex convicts to see their kids. That’s right, ex convicts lose custody of their child, and can’t see them. This is extremely ridiculous, just because a parent has served prison time, doesn’t mean that they can’t see their child. Unless they were sentenced prison time for child abuse, in that case they deserve to lose custody of their kids, but if they are sentenced for assault on an officer, they should still be allowed to see their kids when released.

In conclusion, the Industrial Prison Complex is heavily flawed and makes lives for prisoners extremely hard when released. Treatment in the in prison is unfair and not helpful for prisoners. People see inmates and ex convicts as animals and should be controlled at all times. And finally, the UK prison system is better than the US. Maybe the Feds can get their act together, and not waste tax dollars on life sentence inmates, when they’ll still die in the prison.