Dear Future President,

The U.S jail system needs to improve and should have a better system because it's economically funded wastefully, discriminates racially, and we are incarcerating more juveniles than any other countries. If we don’t improve our jail system it will get worse and we won’t have any justice.

One of the key flaws that our jail system is in bad condition and needs to improve. A study from Amanda Scherker, published in Huffington Post, Politics (2014), in this study it found that we are putting more juveniles than any other developed country. To put that to perspective we put over 73 million juveniles imprison that's ¼ of Americans that is imprisoned. If we keep putting our future in jail, who will lead this country through good and bad times.

In many favors, the jail system is fine and nothing is wrong about it. A study from Rebecca Mayglothling and Studio D, published in peopleof.oureverydaylife.com, Pros of Prison (2016), in this study it states the pros of prison, they prevent offenders and deterring future criminals. The study says, “Children or young relatives of current prisoners may be able to see prison from a closer viewpoint and decide to avoid criminal activity.” This study shows that the jail system is working and is preventing future offenders and criminals. Even some ex-convicts will attempt to follow the law and try to avoid prison.

Another key flaw, why our jail system is so messed up and need ameliorate, is an study done by Thierry Godard and written by Brian Kincade, published in SmartAsset, The Economics of the American Prison System (2016), in this study it state that the average of incarcerating an American prisoner varies state to state. Like here in Minnesota, for every prisoner we manage costs $40k to $50k per inmate. This shows that it's expensive to keep inmates held up in jail also we pay the jail system $39 billion to just fund the prison. Imagine if we have programs to help them, a career for them once they get out of prison. We wouldn’t have to pay so much. We could put that money into our education system which can benefit us teens that have parents that are in jail. Future president if we keep this up how can we fund our system?

This is an important topic to me because my uncle was incarcerated for nonviolent crimes such as stealing little things and vandalizing. He told me there was little to no white prisoners. On his first day in prison he was scared of his life, that someone would sexually or physically abuse him. He said, “ It was the scariest moment of my life. There was so many guys that look so strong.” After he got out he suffered a great deal of mental stress and health. He would never go back again he told me.

Nelson Mandela said, “No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its high citizens but its lowest one.” If we keep treating our low class citizens like animals waiting to be caged and treat our high class citizens like gods then who truly knows what is a jail. It’s for these reasons I wish you would help the people in America know about our atrocious, heinous, and flawed system. So next president how would you handle our jail system would you help it or keep the cycle of this jail system going?

Sincerely,

Kong Xiong

10th Grade

Central Senior High School