The current prison system in the U.$. is very oppressive. In the U.$., specifically California, the minorities are most likely to end up doing time behind bars. While incarcerated we pretty much have no rights, but the very few rights that we do have, are in some way or form broken, bended, violated, or twisted. There are no rehabilitation programs to help us become better individuals. If that was possible there wouldn't be so many prisoners, and if there weren't so many prisoners, there wouldn't be so many correction officers working 4 hours a day but getting paid for a full 8 hours a day. They wouldn't be making money, lots of money.
While in prison, the major thing that is promoted is violence. We are constantly being provoked, they cause emotional and psychological stress and trauma. Correctional Officers can now sue an inmate for staff assault, but what leads the inmate to assault the staff in the first place? If the prison system wasn't oppressive, if the C/Os were truly the professionals that they claim to be, if there was true rehabilitation for inmates, prisons wouldn't be a breeding place for violence. If that's what a prisoner learns in prison, he will use that as a tool when he gets released. We all use what we learn or what was taught to us. If only we were taught how to make a living, an honest living in prison, there wouldn't be so many people coming back to prison.
- A California prisoner, November 2005