Incarceration: the key to a safe and healthy society

We put a lot of people in prison in this country. More than any other country, in fact. We incarcerate more total people. We incarcerate a higher ratio of people. We are the undisputed winners when it comes to locking people up.

Currently, we have 2.3 million people behind bars. Almost 1% of the total population. A ratio five times greater than the next highest ratio of any western democracy.

Putting someone in prison is very nearly the worst thing you can do to a person. Taking a person's personal liberty is no small matter. Merely restricting a person's ability to move about freely is a serious punishment. Confining a person to an 80sqft cage is a very severe punishment. But then consider that if you're in prison you can expect:

1. to have your privacy reduced to zero;
2. to be forced to comply with hundreds of detailed rules and regulations regarding your daily activities;
3. to be systematically dehumanized by guards who are no better than common thugs;
4. to be beaten by guards, for which you as a practical matter have no legal recourse;
5. to be beaten by inmates, for which you actually have no legal recourse;
6. to be raped or otherwise molested by inmates;
7. to have your toilet facilities be in the same room you spend the rest of your day in;
8. to have your cellmate's toilet facilities be in the same room you spend the rest of your day in;
9. to never get another decent job during the rest of your entire life; and
10. etc.

And yet most judges in this country hand out prison sentences like handing out candy at Halloween. Especially if you happen to be a brown person, or someone who cannot afford competent legal representation.

But that's ok. Because as long as you mind your own business and don't do anything wrong, you'll never be sent to prison, right? That is, unless you happen to somehow get on the wrong side of a dishonest policeman or an overzealous prosecutor.

Or unless you commit one of the literally thousands of offenses for which you can be sent to prison in modern America. Some of these include:

1. growing a certain kind of plant in your backyard;
2. attempting to possess a certain kind of plant;
3. offering to accept money for a handjob;
4. offering to pay money for a handjob;
5. offering to find someone who will accept money for a handjob;
6. offering to find someone who will pay money for a handjob;
7. hosting a poker game where a collection is taken up to cover refreshments;
8. playing poker online;
9. making a statement in the course of a police investigation that turns out to be untrue (unless you are the police, in which case it is explicitly NOT a crime but rather an essential part of your training);
10. downloading certain kinds of pictures onto your computer;
11. sending certain types of emails;
12. publishing certain types of software;
13. appointing a campaign contributor to a hospital board;
14. sending insulting text messages; and
15. etc.

HipHopLawyer believes there should be a very high bar for things that will get you sent to prison. A near-comprehensive list off of the top of my head might be: murder, robbery, rape, aggravated assault, major theft and fraud, along with variations on these and possibly a few more. Other crimes should be punishable by less drastic penalties, such as fines, loss of privileges, home confinement, and the like.