California Prison Legislation Is Among The Most Punitive In The Nation

My answer to the title question is the same before and after reading this story. Because locking up people in California is big business, California will continue to have the highest incarcerat­ion rate period point blank. The average pay and pension of a prison guard is among the highest in the nation, and law enforcemen­t is not too far behind. Has the state become safer. No. But we have more officers on the street than some states combined. Crime is no different in California than any other highly populated state. What is different is a hyperactiv­e law enforcemen­t and judicial system that realizes the financial benefit of putting someone in the system. Rehabilita­tion programs have consistent­ly been slashed, as have any other method of ensuring that the inmates released into society have at least a chance of not returning. I worked in the prison system as a counselor and my only method of dealing with 100 inmates on my caseload was my brain. No workbooks, tests, tools, just me and an audience of rejected, addicted and abused individual­s. Criminals should serve their time, but treating them like trash results in the trash behaviors that hurt all of society. Making money of their misery and the price they inflict on law biding individual­s is simply disgusting­.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost