Prison Reform: Righting a Wrong

Prison reform has become a grand topic of conversation in mainstream media over the last several years as celebrities have begun lending their voices to spread awareness about the inhumane conditions of which some prisoners are forced to live. Inhumane conditions include harsh weather conditions and unethical essential health and human rights are just a few issues that have been shared, peeling back layers of the American prison system. Inmates who are also Monroe Dispatch subscribers have shared their frustrations with the conditions of which they are forced to live out their lives during their time in Louisiana State Prison and correctional facilities. The stories shared are as gruesome as some of the worst horror stories told. The way I see it, our prisons reflect how we treat a problem we have. We treat it like something unworthy of our time and effort. We try our best to mask it in lowly places where it can be concealed, until it grows so strong that we are forced to come face to face. The problem with a problem, though, is that it rarely goes away without addressing it head-on with a plan to overcome it. I am happy that celebrities are using their status to help bring awareness to what is happening in our country with the hope that their voices will bring about positive change. We have got to figure out better ways to fix the problems we have. We owe it to ourselves and our fellow man to make things better for ourselves and, in turn, generations that will come after us. I include me in this we. The day of awakening, after all, will come sooner or later. On that day, we will have to answer to the wrongdoing we have done or allowed whether we took part in it or not. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "The time is always right to do the right thing." It is time for us to try harder to make things right, and I am happy celebrities are lending their voices, at the least, to begin to fix things like prison reform in America.