Prison Violence

Prison violence is on an upward move, but it is coming from both sides of the equation, correctional officers and prisoners. The eighth amendment bans "cruel and unusual" punishment, but the enforcers of this law are also the ones breaking it. Being a former Military Policeman and having several friends that are State Troopers, City and County Police Officers, and Correctional Officers, I have seen and heard of the corruption that goes on inside the jails and prisons. I have also heard about what goes on in the inside from people who have been locked up from 1 year to 15 years and the stories are all the same, everybody is corrupt. People often let their authority and power outweigh the right way of doing things and there lies the problem.

First we have to look at the evil nature people before we get to the prison system. This raises the age old question of whether a person is born evil or is it a behavior that is learned. People that are born with good common sense and are able to make rational decisions are capable of making choices to commit or not commit a crime or violent act, but on the other hand if a person is born with some type mental disability their actions are different because of mental issues. For now we dealing with sound minded people that are born "normal" that put forth effort to do wrong and commit crimes. People make the conscious decision to rob, steal, kill, and destroy other people and property due to a sense of being easy to take from others rather than work for something. Human beings are not born evil it is a choice they make and usually realize after the fact that it was a bad decision to kill the store clerk or rob the bank.

Let's look at some factors that also influence people to sway towards doing evil deeds, such as joining a gang for a sense of love and belonging that may stem from not getting enough attention from parents, fear of not being liked by the "cool" people if you don't do things they are doing whether right or wrong, misguided religious views such as suicide bombings in the name of Allah, and influence from people that are close to you like your family. People that are trying to be part of the crowd leads to destruction, jail time, and down the road to violence and drugs, both selling and using.

Regardless of the reason people get locked up we have to remember that they are still human beings and should not be treated like animals nor abused. We may feel like they deserve it be they are protected by the law and law enforcement officials must uphold the law. To be fair prisoners promote violence among each other from issues dealing with sex, drugs, food, and whether or not to join a prison gang. Guards also play a major role in this violence by treating the inmates inhumanely and unfairly, plus making female prisoners engage in sexual acts with them, selling drugs to them, and abusing them when they have conflicts amongst themselves.

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