FNED 502 Social Issues of Education
                                                             May 24th, 2018


                   

The Full Cost of Incarceration in the U. S.  By Matt Ferner

 

In his article, Matt Ferner debates the issue of the cost of incarceration in the United States of America. The United States is the bigger jailer ion the planet. This is a big issue which is costing us $1 trillion dollars. This country simply cannot cope with the economic burden of having so many people in prison. The United States is also having trouble coping with the emotional and social burden that incarceration creates in our society. Poor families are being most affected by this epidemic.   

Matt Ferner’s article explains that ex-prisoners have a hard time readjusting to society after they come out of jail. For example, finding a job for many ex-prisoners is a challenge simply because most of the companies will deny them a job just because of their parole restriction or just because they were in jail (regardless of the crime they committed).  Many of this ex-prisoners will commit crime because many of them have to support their family. Survival for them is priority. Many of them go right back to jail after breaking the law again and again. The problem our society is facing will not be resolved unless funds are allocated appropriately. Creating educational programs to support these individuals become part of our society as productive citizens will help minimize this issue.

 

The people who suffer the most from incarceration are the families of the prisoners. According to the article children of prisoners are 5 times more likely to become criminals themselves. Many children start to misbehave in school. They get low grades. Many of them drop out of school because now they have to help support their family (they have to get a job to).  Today in class our group discussed how discrimination bias creates imprisonment/incarceration. We discussed the root(s) and local issues of it, it symptoms and we had to offer a possible solution to help alleviate this problem. We came up with few recommendations. Learn from other countries, what are they doing to cope with poverty, incarceration etc.

We believe that allocating funds to create educational programs to teach ex-prisoners how to re adjust to society is crucial. Allocating funds adequately will also help students learn how to manage the situation, overcome their obstacles and do better in school. Companies can also help out by employing ex-prisoners (they must give them a chance to get back to society and contribute positively to the country’s economy.