o Group Three Material Response o

Hello Everyone!

MW here, and this week has been a crazy one. I won't bore you with the details, so let's dive into the topic for this week. We are talking about prison reform this week and the truth of incarceration. 

We watched the Prisoners of Riker Island for our film this week and, truthfully, it was a horrifying film to watch.  A scene that stuck out to me quite a bit was the women's quarters of the prison. They even said in the film that most of the women there should be in rehab for addiction or mental illness, not in prison. This film made me think of group one's topic of criminal psychology. Even though these women are not killing anyone, most of them anyways, are being placed in prison to rot away instead of getting the help they need to get better for themselves and their children.

Another scene that stood out to me was the pregnant women's place. This truly made my heart wrench with sadness and despair with these women in prison with their babies. Prison already has horrible health care and hearing the story of the woman who had her baby's stillborn body kept from her and not being able to properly bury her child made me feel pity for these people. Almost guilty for having and taking advantage of my freedom. 

Watching these films made me realize that I take my freedom for granted every single day. I have developed a new heart and passion for prison reform that was ignited by this week's work. I believe we need to pull the prison system out from the roots and rebuild from there. Use the finding for police programs and place them into worthwhile psychological and mental help for the patients that need it while in rehabilitation, which is what the goal of incarceration should be. 

The dirty truth is that prisons and police make their money from prisoners. Their bail, the government funding per prisoner, and other in-between-the-line pay they get on top of their salaries. Of course, police don't care if someone gets put in jail because it puts money in their pockets. 

Funny how being selfish is the root of all problems?

Why can't America cut back on gas emissions to save our planet? 

Loss of money.

Why can't America live without meat that will help us become a more eco-friendly society?

Loss of tradition. 

Why can't America provide help to those in need in every way?

Because they only. care. about. themselves. 

Now, this isn't only America, I know, but America has some really bad fucked up problems and a good amount of them stem from people being selfish and not wanting to look at other people's perspectives. Once we learn to look one another in the eye and listen to other people's voices, we will never get anywhere positive in the progression of history. 

This is harder to do than say, look around you, but I do say that if everyone cares enough, we can find a way. 

Anyways, See You Next Time,

MW