How America's justice system is rigged against the poor

There are invisible cages that extend far beyond prison walls.

Every year, more than 600,000 individuals are freed from America’s jails and prisons.

But many of America’s formerly incarcerated people face numerous obstacles when integrating back into public life once free, according to Wes Caines and his former colleagues Scott Hechinger and Hannah McCrea at Brooklyn Defender Services, a public defender service in New York City.

Former prisoners are routinely denied employment, housing, education, and other benefits that would help ease their integration into life on the outside, Caines says.

[bigboi]

you know there is a problem with the justice system when a killer gets to rejoin society, but someone who committed a petty crime does not

[AmariSali]

I love how everyone is talking about, "Don't do the crime, if you don't want to do the time." You do realize the point of the video is that it becomes your whole life you are making up for one mistake right? Hell, in this day and age, you can be wrongly convicted and just because your name pops up in news articles when they do a background check it can screw you over for life.

Plus, what if you did do the crime? Does that mean you should be doomed to struggle for the rest of your life? Why, as a country, we are so pro-punishment and care very little about rehabilitation? Either way, as tax payers, it will come out of our pocket. One method does nothing for the offender and sets them up to be habitual offenders, the homeless people you ignore on the streets, or those who live the rest of their life in misery with a low paying job and no real ladder to get out of the hole.

Meanwhile, rehabilitation would actually lead to opportunity. Because, let's face it, most crimes aren't because the person was bad but their environment lacked opportunity. This is especially the case for those who live in urban populations where lack of funding meant your high school diploma truly did mean nothing. Not just because it is a certificate of attendance, more than anything, but it barely prepared you for community college.

I mean, I get everyone feels as if, if it doesn't affect you, doesn't deal with your loved ones, why should you care? Well, realize that these people, or their descendants, may end up interacting or part of your family. So you're better off investing in their future rather than dealing with the only means they were given to survive.

[SiyabongaAfrica]

"A Nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but it's lowest ones" - Nelson Mandela. South Africa may not be perfect but even our prisoners have the right to vote. Denying those who have served their debt to society their constitutional rights is a recipe for disaster. If serving prison time is an amends of sorts then released prisoners should have the opportunity to pursue a normal life.

[Delta_Aves]

There's a reason the U.S has the highest prison population. Prisoners are profitable, especially in private prisons. Not to mention profits have been used to sway prosecutors or judges to convict those of non violent or low-grade crimes and have them subjected to harsh punishment, such as the Kids For Cash Scandal. I don't know about federal prison, but private prisons are especially brutal in dehumanizing prisoners and juveniles as young as 13. Their goal isn't to rehabilitate inmates, but to generate and maintain the highest profits through them. They do this by cutting costs, such as security, food, and healthcare and generating arbitrary laws and rule to get more convicted. They have driven the mass incarceration in the U.S sky high, harming families, communities and state governments. With the stocks booming since Trump won the election, private prisons around the country will be opening their gates for immigrants, and then closing them forever.
U.S corporations have been financially exploiting anything they see as profitable, but this should be off limits. It basically says that your very lives and futures aren't as important as the money they can make off of you. The whole "don't do the crime if you can't do the time, " idea means absolutely nothing in these circumstances. They'll find any excuse to put you away.

[Robbie]

The fact that some people still don't know this is really scary
The system works against you if you are poor
Nothing new

[veridianroots]

Can someone explain how they can legally say that someone can't vote just because they committed a crime (no matter how "small"?) Isn't that discrimination and taking basic rights of citizens?

[TenaciousDM]

Eye opening video, unsurprising comments.

[yellowroadtheater-musicfor]

Prison should be a rehab as a much as a punishment

[LeGenDxKaOtiK]

To the people that simply say that these people should've never commited crimes in the first place, I agree but you gotta realise that most of these people weren't raised in the same condition that you were. I am Black my mom and dad both are doctors, I always got what I wanted by just asking my parents and I never had to worry about anything for my entire life, I went to good private schools and now I'm going to get my own PhD. And so I never even thought about committing a crime or being violent because I was never put into the conditions for it to happen.

But most of these people were raised in crime and poverty striken communities where most of them had very little access to education and other activities with very bad influences and an economic struggle that most of you and I never experienced and that's why you shouldn't shun them for a bad choice they made when they were 18, in addition to that most of these people committed non violent crimes such as drug or gun possession, driving without a license or minor theft. Even if you believe that it doesn't matter do you really think anyone should be shut out of society for their whole entire lives because of one mistake?

[elsiemon]

It's baffling how entrenched the two-tier justice system is, and few people really know about it.

[jeromechillin]

There should be legislation that should give first time NON VIOLENT felons a second chance and seal their records automatically after time is served.

That way they can re-enter the work force and live a normal life.

[Ardjano]

USA: you got weed? Let's ruin your whole life baby

Netherlands: police officer casually smokes a joint after work

[squadfam]

i love how one thousand people disliked this, the idea of economic inequality is now controversial

[CubeMatz]

The time in prison should not just be there to punish someone who has done wrong, it should also prepare them to reintegrate them into society as a usefull member to the public.

[bobbypatton]

To anyone thinking "why don't they just not commit crimes?!" Take a moment and reflect if you have ever done something illegal, but got away with it. Now imagine if you had got caught.

[lauramarschmallow]

wtf? how can you legally ban someone from puplic housing?
That's cruel! You thereby force him to do homelessness.

[corinadanaeca]

And, the problem is, without justice, a person can be wrongfully convicted, and these kinds of things can ruin lives.

[ShePudding]

When you are convicted of a crime, you are given a punishment by a court of law equal to the severity of your transgression.

We, the innocent, free people on the outside, pay for these people for the duration of their punishment- whether it's paying the salary and paperwork of a parol officer, or the basic needs of a prisoner, at thousands of dollars per person per year.

The point, theoretically, is to emphasize the severity of their misdeeds and inflict a sort of humane suffering onto them, so those misdeeds are never repeated. So they are "rehabilitated" through guilt and boredom alone, and eventually resume life as a contributing member of society, and do not cause the state nor it's citizens any more suffering.

Of course, if their record keeps them from obtaining gainful employment, they are then, again, a burden to the state. If they cannot find affordable housing, or a (responsible) loan for a car, how can they even begin their life again? A lucky man will have a family rich and patient enough to support them through the hard times. A desperate man would turn to illegal means of earning a living- at least to get started. At least to support their own goddamn family, who would take their sorry ass in when they can't even get a job. And once they get caught? We have to pay for their punishment all over again.

My point being: if we want to perpetually punish the convicted for the rest of their lives, we are doing so at our own risk. We make their very existence a burden on their families, and put a heavy pressure on them to earn a living outside of the law. We, at the very least, have not created the conditions to allow them to "start again", with anything less than a herculean effort. Perhaps if fewer offenses could result in jail time or if sentences weren't so long, it could result in less crowded jails with more funding and guards, and less inside crime. Perhaps if insisted on anti-discriminatory laws for convicts who have been gainfully employed and clean for X number of months or years, so they could one day have hope of moving up in the world without fearing it would all come crashing down, they would have a powerful reason to grit their teeth for minimum wage untill X amount of time passes. I don't claim to have the answers, but at the very least, this much seems obvious: by perpetually punishing the convicted, we are also hurting our own society.

[alfredsalazar]

wow this is so true, 20 yrs ago i was convicted of burglerly of a building offense and served my probation . i still find myself working low income jobs and barely making it because of my criminal back ground. No forgiveness

[andrewcerda]

Lost my brother because of this. They get so use to living inside that they can't function outside anymore. Drugs and alcohol make it worse. Once family pushes them away all hope is lost.