The Christian Science Monitor

'American Prison' presents a highly disturbing insider's view of a private prison

With 2.1 million people in prison, the United States has the largest incarcerated population in the world. The only other country with a number of prisoners that comes even close is China, with 1.6 million.  American incarceration rates skyrocketed beginning in the 1980s with draconian sentencing for drug violations that disproportionately targeted African-Americans and continued in the 1990s with 3-strikes-you’re out laws that condemned many repeat offenders to life sentences. 

However, the US penal system was unable to house

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Christian Science Monitor

The Christian Science Monitor5 min read
An Archipelago Was Losing Its Ancient Sport. African Migrants May Save It.
Mamadou Camara and his opponent step out into the sandy arena. The two men – towering, hulking figures – bend at the waist and lock into position, grabbing the edges of each other’s rolled-up white shorts, head on each other’s shoulder. The referee b
The Christian Science Monitor4 min read
Meet The Franco-Malian Pop Star Sparking Debate Over Who Should Sing At The Olympics
One of the most important roles at the opening ceremony at the Paris Olympic Games this summer is likely to be performing the songs of Édith Piaf. So when President Emmanuel Macron was asked who might be tapped for such a duty, it was perhaps natural
The Christian Science Monitor4 min readInternational Relations
As Genocide Threatens Again, The World Wakes Up To Sudan’s Civil War
The American diplomat could not have been clearer: This war must end, he said. “We need to be seeing massive convoys of aid” for its desperately vulnerable civilians. He was not talking about Gaza. Veteran U.S. diplomat Tom Perriello was addressing a

Related Books & Audiobooks