In the U.S. we usually consider prisons and jails to be violent places, as if there were no alternative. We imagine that because violent people are sent there it is a foregone conclusion that violence will happen. What we often overlook is the contribution of correctional systems and staff to the atmosphere, and our failure to hold them accountable (since they work for us) makes us culpable. The conditions of prisons and jails are the direct result of what we allow.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday released a long awaited report on the conditions of youth between 16 and 18 held at Rikers Island in the East River of New York City. Comparing conditions there to “The Lord of the Flies,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bhara, declared Rikers to be “a broken institution for adolescents” that will “produce broken people.” Who was responsible for the chaos?
[For more of this story, written by John Lash, go to http://jjie.org/op-ed-we-must-stop-accepting-violence-in-prisons/]
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