Prisons and alternatives

The US attitudes towards incarceration are informed by an individual’s economic status so that the prison jails are left for people who are unable to buy their freedom by paying their bails. In the video the speaker was suspected of terrorism activities but was not put in jail. Things might have been worse if the speaker had not been from affluent background.  The system implies that affluent people are not likely to be incarcerated like the poor including those unable to pay their debts. It is illegal for a person to be jailed due to inability to pay packing debts but the states governments continue doing so (Dudani, n.d.). The poor people who are unable to pay their debts are placed in prison cells with deplorable living conditions characterized by lack of hygiene and medical attention and insufficient food.  The problems facing the poor persons in jail are the reason for the high suicide rate among them. While a significant number of women in jail have mental health issues, only a small percentage receive medical care.

In the justice system, it is not a matter of the risks posed by a person but whether they can afford to pay for their bail. There are poor people confined in jail for a longer time than they would spend in prison if found guilty. They are left to decide whether to plead guilty to the minor offenses so as to be released after which they are considered criminals.  The affluent persons can easily be bailed out and have no criminal record.

The challenge is to ensure that new policies do not punish the poor and marginalized persons in the society.  The prisoners are, therefore, not providing the intended purpose to the country.  The alternatives to imprisonment should include non-custodial measures that do not have to be established though the present penal framework.  In order to achieve the intended purpose of prisons especially for minor offenses, the use of verbal sanctions including warning and reprimanding can work as alternative to prisons. A conditional discharge together with judicial supervision can ensure that a person changes his behavior. The particular non-custodial sentences can ensure that human dignity is observed but not at the expense of rule of law. The above discussion implies that prisons established to deter illegal behavior or deter offenses but not to subject the poor to inhuman treatment.

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