Prison in the United States, for many, is a place of confinement to legally punish those who break legal morality laws. For some, prison is the endless social, economic, and political state of confinement that strips one’s humanity. Once one is convicted of breaking a law and receives a prison sentence, one is automatically stripped of one’s humanity, which lingers into one’s identity as a citizen.
In the United States, after one serves a prison sentence, one is subjected to a life of a non-citizen. The person’s right to vote, receive employment, receive federal aid, etc… is immediately revoked. The person essentially becomes a subject to the American government, as they no longer hold the rights that they previously held, even after they paid their dues to society through their prison sentence.
Yes, I do believe that prisons are necessary within societies, but I do not believe in the permanent branding of consequences that follow those who serve prison sentences in the United States. The prison system has made it possible for ex-prisoners to never move beyond their “prison status” by revoking the basic rights that make them American citizens.
What is it about the American prison system that suffocates those who fall victim to the overall system? Why is it that one must be revoked of one’s inalienable rights because one broke a law? Why is it that prison systems don’t look to rehabilitate but look to further place blame?
Those aren’t questions that need to be answered at this moment, but eventually we must find answers to these questions in order to move on as a nation.