A lot of the comments here are completely ignorant about the state and nature of prisons, both on a small scale level for the lives of people who are incarcerated as well as at a large scale in how Amercian society supports prisons as a racist institution. I urge everyone looking for starting knowledge to start with Angela Davi's Are Prisons Obsolete?: http://www.amazon.com/Are-Prisons-Obsolete-Angela-Davis/dp/1...
https://www.amazon.com/Are-Prisons-Obsolete-Angela-Davis/dp/...