The Abhorrent Living Conditions in America’s Prisons
By: Brooke McBee
By: Brooke McBee
Imagine having to live in a six by eight cement room that is infested with rats and roaches, lacking a proper mattress, reeking of urine and excrement, and either unbearably hot or freezing. On top of that, imagine being called horrific and degrading names, gassed and perpetually abused, deprived of adequate food, and ignored when desperately begging for change. For many, they do not have to imagine, as prisoners have, and often still do, face these horrendous conditions. From overcrowding to sexual slavery, the inhumane treatment of inmates is too often disregarded, for millions suffer from the lack of justice in the “justice” system.
Earlier in 2019, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division revealed its findings on prison conditions in Alabama, and the results were appalling. The lengthy report included harrowing accounts of abuse that occurred within the prisons. One prisoner was drenched in bleach and beaten with a jagged mop handle while another “was found tied up and strangled to death.” The investigation uncovered a plethora of other stories that demonstrate the disturbing extent to which prisoners are abused by both their fellow inmates and those in power. Prison rape is perhaps one of the most prominent issues. A 2007 national report released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics revealed that nearly one in 20 inmates account that they are raped or sexually abused while in prison. Additionally, many prisoners complain of a severe scarcity of basic necessities, like food, and one explains how his experience in solitary was “the hungriest that he had ever been in his life.”
“I don’t understand how all these issues are so easily overlooked or just plainly ignored. Maybe it’s because of the reputations people in prison hold, like only being seen as criminals, but they deserve basic human rights too. No one should have to live under the conditions some of them do,” Atallia Stewart, a Hillgrove junior, expresses. Despite the endless amount of stories illustrating the unjust treatment of prisoners, cruel and degrading conditions continue to exist throughout prisons in America. Moreover, those suffering in prison are often innocent of the crimes they are being accused of, awaiting trial and unable to afford their excessive bail, or convicted on minor charges. Both how people convict prisoners of their accused crimes and the way they treat them in prison afterwards can be atrocious, yet prison reforms typically lack the attention and support they need. Many could even justify labeling the conditions in prison as a violation of the eighth amendment, which aims to protect people from “cruel and unusual punishments”.
The degrading prison conditions evident throughout all of America is an urgent and grave issue, for an immense amount of people are currently suffering and dying in what many believe to be a place resembling notions of justice and retribution. Allowing others to endure the agonizing dehumanization that occurs in prisons is a crime against one’s basic morals and only perpetuates the lack of humanity and virtue in society.
Earlier in 2019, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division revealed its findings on prison conditions in Alabama, and the results were appalling. The lengthy report included harrowing accounts of abuse that occurred within the prisons. One prisoner was drenched in bleach and beaten with a jagged mop handle while another “was found tied up and strangled to death.” The investigation uncovered a plethora of other stories that demonstrate the disturbing extent to which prisoners are abused by both their fellow inmates and those in power. Prison rape is perhaps one of the most prominent issues. A 2007 national report released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics revealed that nearly one in 20 inmates account that they are raped or sexually abused while in prison. Additionally, many prisoners complain of a severe scarcity of basic necessities, like food, and one explains how his experience in solitary was “the hungriest that he had ever been in his life.”
“I don’t understand how all these issues are so easily overlooked or just plainly ignored. Maybe it’s because of the reputations people in prison hold, like only being seen as criminals, but they deserve basic human rights too. No one should have to live under the conditions some of them do,” Atallia Stewart, a Hillgrove junior, expresses. Despite the endless amount of stories illustrating the unjust treatment of prisoners, cruel and degrading conditions continue to exist throughout prisons in America. Moreover, those suffering in prison are often innocent of the crimes they are being accused of, awaiting trial and unable to afford their excessive bail, or convicted on minor charges. Both how people convict prisoners of their accused crimes and the way they treat them in prison afterwards can be atrocious, yet prison reforms typically lack the attention and support they need. Many could even justify labeling the conditions in prison as a violation of the eighth amendment, which aims to protect people from “cruel and unusual punishments”.
The degrading prison conditions evident throughout all of America is an urgent and grave issue, for an immense amount of people are currently suffering and dying in what many believe to be a place resembling notions of justice and retribution. Allowing others to endure the agonizing dehumanization that occurs in prisons is a crime against one’s basic morals and only perpetuates the lack of humanity and virtue in society.
