Prison ReformIn today's society we are facing many changes. Our own family, neighbors and compatriots are afraid of many dangers that influence their lives. Although many people feel fear that resonates in their consciousness and unconsciousness, the United States has a relatively low crime rate. Despite this low crime rate, America incarcerates its citizens five times more than Canada and seven times more than most European democracies. (Slambrouck, Paul. 24) Our society must be changed. We cannot blame the individuals involved in wrongdoing, but we can blame our society for raising these criminals. Of course, someone who kills another human being must be punished in one way or another; but we need to make changes. We need to help as many maladjusted people as possible. Some steps really seem to work. Many inmates come from broken homes and have low self-esteem. What must be done to help these precarious people, at war with themselves and against society, is to rehabilitate them. The problem is that prison officials don't try to teach prisoners how to learn from their mistakes. (McGovern, Celeste. 42) What actually happens is that criminals tend to be better thieves and have the ability to outwit the police. Our politicians must emphasize the importance of vocational, educational, drug treatment, and religious programs to improve the attitudes and behavior of these convicted criminals. This is the only way to prevent ex-cons from entering prison. (DeLuca, HR 38) Another problem with the American prison system is overcrowding. Nowadays, a considerable number of young offenders without conscience enter prisons. Imagine trying to compact eight gallons of water into a five gallon container...... middle of paper...... what remains is that our facilities should mimic the prison of McKean. Inmates at Mckean are denied freedom, but they have the opportunity to learn trades for themselves, undergo drug treatment and meet God. If we treat inmates like humans, they will respond like humans. We can no longer dehumanize them and expect our communities to benefit. This doesn't work. We don't need to build more prisons, we need to reduce the incarceration rate of non-violent offenders. These offenders could perform community service and be placed under house arrest, where they still have the opportunity to keep their family together, so that the vicious cycle does not continue. All I can point out is that our system needs to be reformed soon. We can only prepare ourselves for it, the ills of society have already created these predators. That's why we need to promote new plans and theories on how we can shape tomorrow's flowers before they bloom..