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I know this is a recurring topic on these boards but I don't think we talk enough about rehabilitation. We've covered the prison industrial complex to exhaustion but I think the biggest issue here is the lack of opportunity for ex-cons to re-integrate back into society.
A felony is a lot like a modern day scarlet letter (minus the adultery). You have your rights stripped away, you're denied work, and really have very little chance at being an upwardly mobile productive member of society. We're literally throwing these souls away, and their families suffer dearly. Kids grow up without fathers, wives without their husbands, entire communities are being torn apart as a result.
Especially Black and Hispanic communities, and yes race is a factor here. When we're talking about at-risk youth we cannot deny that that young Black males are the most at risk, these kids are growing up without a father figure. We're effectively creating an environment setting these kids up for failure.
57.6% of Black children are growing up fatherless. (http://www.fathers.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=336)
And a huge reason behind that number is the Black incarceration rate. We're simply not giving Americans, namely Black Americans an opportunity to rehabilitate and provide for their families. These men are being institutionalized early on in life and it follows them through adulthood. It's a vicious cycle.
It's ******* genocide really, we're killing an entire generation of Americans. Mass incarceration without rehabilitation is genocide, make no mistake.
Land of the free right? Throwing away lives, and over what? Drugs? Guys are getting life without parole for narcotics charges. And the war on drugs is exactly what makes this prison industrial system tick, it's a huge cash cow.
http://reason.com/archives/2012/04/22/4-industries-getting-rich-off-the-drug-w