cking people in prison, the prison system condemns them to poverty and stigmatizes them as lifetime members of the criminal class. The criminal class is the scapegoat for America's social ills and the justification for spending millions of dollars on building more prisons, hiring more police officers, and for drafting tough new "anti-crime" laws. But by trying to make life tough for criminals, we make life tough for ourselves, because the laws that get passed to control the criminal class apply to everyone. If you, the "good citizen," somehow run up against the law, well, you must be a delinquent, a member of the notorious criminal class. Better shape up, obey the laws and avoid any trouble so you won't be one of those, criminals! By distinguishing "criminals" from the rest of society--not for people's actions but for who they are--prisons and the "fight against crime" are used to attack target populations and garner obedience from the general population.(Colson, Charles. 15-30) This is what led writer Michael Foucault to write, "Let us conceive of places of punishment as a Garden of the Laws that families would visit on Sundays."(Pettinico, George. 32) Prisons are places where criminals are punished, but they are also "gardens" that remind citizens of what could happen to them if they were to become a "criminal." In this way, prisons help craft a more obedient population outside the walls, outside the garden. Prisons put the cop inside your head. Prisons control your life even if you've never been inside one. Knowing all humans make mistakes, the only thing which comes from mistakes is the chance to learn from them. Some individuals make very serious mistakes and should be rehabilitated in some way. They should not always be thrown behind bars. We can not just forget about them because eventually they will be walking among us once again. If we do leave them in jail and forget about them we are showing how ignorant our mentality actua...
