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I'm sitting here by the pool and it's a beautiful morning. The water is perfect, the sun is shining, I'm all oiled up and ready to drift off into that transcendental state of conscious unconsciousness that makes sunbathing so addicting. A feeling is coming...zen? Nah, frustration. I can't relax because I can't stop thinking about how jacked up America's prison system is. Now, I'm not claiming to be an expert on the subject. I've never worked for law enforcement, nor have I ever been arrested. No, my experience with the subject comes from an undeniable affinity of mine towards "bad boys" stemming from the fact I've always held a "rescue him" complex and I am, however-so-slightly, mildly to moderately masochistic. So how can I rescue these strong boys in blue? I'm mainly addressing our youthful offenders, young boys ages 16-21 that are supposed to be out working on becoming men, but for whatever twist of fate end up locked up with grown men. Even worse than being locked up with grown men is being locked up with locked up grown men. That has got to be one of the greatest recipes for the perpetuation of violence in America. So what can we do? The first direction my thoughts take is to prison work programs. What would it take to pay these boys a decent wage which could be budgeted for them; taxes paid, money for commissary, and money to be put away in investment accounts that would be paid out upon an inmate's release. A little cushy nest egg so the released offender doesn't have to knock off a liquor store on his way down the road because the $100 the DOC forks out isn't enough to cover a day. Allow the inmate to have a say in his investment choices, teach him about proper money management and making responsible financial decisions. Maybe upon their release they will continue investing in America's economy, instead of that "good-good" coming up from Miami end of the week. It seems so simple to me, just an empathetic proposal requiring an evolution of human understanding, one step at a time towards the greater good.

Learn more about this author, Erin Savage.
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