The US has a major issue many may not know of; It is destroying a vast majority of American lives. Prison. Its penal system as a whole has left families destroyed and lives ruined. For various reasons this system has become corrupt in its proceedings and has wrongly accused gobs of people. Their lives will then be destroyed by the deadly soul of prison with nothing to stop it. This public health issue can’t go untold and if not dealt with soon, the nation I love will be destroyed.

Too many people are being incarcerated. According to a CNN article posted by digital producer and investigator, Drew Kann, on July 18, 2018, stated that the total prison population is about 2.2 million inmates. The US has the highest fugitive population in the world and it gets worse. Compared to the major city of Philadelphia, the prisoner's population is greater.

Philadelphia’s population is about 1.6 million people. It’s bewildering to think that a major US city could have a lower population than the number of criminals in the country. How did the US penal system become so problematic?

One blemish points towards the jurisdiction. Police officers always want to keep the general public safe. Sadly, there is always the few who will take bribes to either makeup information or just completely lie about the situation. The greed of money and authority is far too great for these small numbered officials. Although policing is far from the only problem.

Prosecutorial misconduct, false confessions, and biased lawyering are also reasons why falsely accused people will end up convicted. The high amount of prisoners come from these wrongfully arraigned. According to an article called “Why the innocent end up in prison” by John Grisham, posted March 14, 2018, on the Chicago Tribune explains how 2%-10% of the 2.3 million convicts in the US are innocent. That’s between 46,000-230,000 wrongly accused people in the American prison system. The US law enforcing system is flawed in many ways, but people are still suffering the consequences in jail.

Life inside prison is tough. A personal journal kept by Jerry Metcalf, later posted on “The Marshall” on July 12, 2018, explains how prison is to him. In which he states how his day goes. To begin he wakes up at 1:30 AM to be searched, and begin his job. His occupation is called “Suicide Watch” and this requires him to talk to fellow prisoners who are deemed to be suicidal. Jerry explains how he always cries when he hears the story of a special black 18-year-old and his past life with family and friends dealing with prison. Later, he speaks of his most dangerous parts of his day. Lunch and yard time. Prisoners often bring weapons to these populated areas and occasionally someone doesn’t leave. Also, he explains what happens when someone is hurt. Most of the time, they get trampled by the inmates as they walk out of the enclosure. An article was posted by Aislinn Antrim on October 26, 2018, on NCCPPR and explains the danger of prison all over the country. In North Carolina between the years of 2005-2014, 873 people died within the prison system. That’s about 87 people per year and if all states have this then about 4,440 people die yearly within the US prison system. North Carolina though is ranked 41st for most people incarcerated meaning that they don’t have many prisoners. This total then could be a lot higher for yearly deaths. To conclude, this means that Mr. Metcalf is a dismal example of the life inside of prison and how this penal system kills too many people every year. The life of prison may also never leave for these people, even after attaining freedom.

On the site of MPR news, there is an article called “Life after prison: The 'sentence never ends’” posted March 8, 2017, by Marcheta Fornoff and Kerri Miller.  According to the article, ex-prisoners have a tendency of going back to prison. To be exact, half a million people will be released from jail, but nearly two-thirds of those people will be back in jail in only three years. Common problems for these former inmates are finding housing, low access to drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, and inadequate job training. Also, 60%-70% of those people won’t find a job within their first year of freedom. One hope for these individuals to find jobs was with the “Ban the Box” law passed by 25 states. This legislation would prevent employers from seeing their employee’s past prison lives on the initial applications, but they still can do a background check to see any problems with the employees which didn’t go well for the employees. Sadly, there is more. Black applicants with criminal backgrounds were denied twice as much as white applicants with the same criminal backgrounds. With these factors of life after prison being so rough on these people, I can see why they go back into doing these illegal acts to survive. I also believe in a new hope that will surely solve these issues.

This unique wish for all freed prisoners are the state-of-the-art programs and laws created by the government. These bills would need to solve housing, education, jobs, and sentencing in general. Luckily, there is a brand new law meant to help these people in need. According to an article named “The First Step Act, explained” posted on Vox by German Lopez on February 5, 2019, speaks of the inducted Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act (or FIRST STEP Act) and how it works. This was brought upon the US Congress during the turmoil of the government shutdown and was delayed. Now though, the act brings new beginnings to those incarcerated. The article mentioned claims that the First Step Act will reform the Fair Sentencing Act from 2010, ease mandatory minimum sentences, increase “good time” credits, and allows prisoners to get “good time” credits by participating in vocational and rehabilitation programs. The First Step Act is claimed to be the most impactful criminal justice reform in years. I believe so purely because it solves many problems within the prison system. Housing, education, jobs, and sentencing will now be better for the lives of the afflicted. Though some things the act doesn’t quite comprehend is the fact of bigotry. Those who have committed high-level offenses and/or who have been convicted multiple times for similar illegal actions won’t benefit. People of color and the destitute have higher chances of being convicted even if they weren’t really apart of the crime. With additional crimes, these people won’t get the help that they need. This creates issues within the algorithm, but it’s still a good first step (Get it). I truly feel that this new legislation will bring innovative ideas to the board on how to improve our great nation’s disappointing prison system.

The life of a criminal is riddled with mistakes of their pasts, but I firmly believe they still deserve to have a better rehabilitation process. If these actions go unanswered, the lives of the innocent will be in the crossfire. Their lives will be fed with the evil of prison. With new laws though, we can create a brighter future for our fellow citizens. This US issue is killing its American lives. I wish to put an end to the biased prison system and instead create an evolutionary penal system for the greater good.