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As a person living in the United States the reality of facing incarceration is a probability. 1 of every 20 persons can be expected to serve time in prison during their lifetime. When we think of the United States, we think of 50 states, Disney land, New York, big trucks, and the highest incarceration rate in the world. At that rate, we find ourselves amid a long-standing debate, Prison abolition. In this speech I will bring you up to date on this topic and how the U.S is obligated to abolish prisons and the prison system. I will highlight how prisons are designed on the idea of profit offering no solutions, how reform is not a plausible idea and, finally, how the abolishment of prisons and prison systems will allow for the U.S to focus on social welfare, such as housing, mental health services and education. With the highest incarceration rate in the world, the United States swings on a controversial subject; Prison Abolition. You may ask: What is prison abolition? Prison abolition is a movement that focuses on eliminating or reducing prisons and the prison system & replacing them with rehabilitation centers. According to Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s book Abolition Geography: Essays Toward Liberation, Gilmore’s argument, states “violence is a form of class warfare, the purpose of abolition isn’t only to end the moral catastrophe of incarceration, but also to create a society in which freedom and abundance are universal relations” Ruth Wilson Gilmore is a prison abolitionist and a prison scholar. As well as being a professor of Earth and environmental sciences at the City University of New York. Gilmore was praised by Barbara Ransby, author, and human rights activist, for her radicalness and her dedication to bringing recognition to racial capitalism and abolishment in her book Abolition Geography: Essays Toward Liberation. The claims I make will allow you to rethink how our current prison system operates and what can be done about it. One of the reasons for the abolishment of prisons and the prison system is because they are designed to provide profit for the U.S without actual solutions. By solutions, they mean resources and opportunities for inmates to have an easier transition once they are released from prison. “44% of individuals released from prison return to prison within their first year out”, According to the statistics, almost half of released individuals face the likelihood of being incarcerated within a year from their release. This staggering number emphasizes the reality that the incarcerated do not have the proper means to reenter into society. In addition to resources, the other complication is the prisons system in the United States bring in about $182 billion a year. The Smart Asset published an article called ‘The Economy of the American Prison System’ by Thierry Godard. This article highlights key factors of the prison system when it comes to money. Such as, the business side, the largest corrections corporation, and how private prisons bring problems to the public. The article also calls out how there are over 4,000 companies that make profit from mass incarceration, one of these companies is Microsoft. The most common argument against abolition is that reform is easier to obtain than abolishment. Except reform is not a plausible solution regarding prisons and the prison system : The reality is that the prison system is not broken; it is doing what it was designed to do According to the Vera Institute of Justice Study from 2012, there was a 700% increase of incarcerated over the last 4 decades. With such an extreme increase in incarcerated individuals in the last 40 years, the intention of the prison system is not to decrease the number of individuals but to increase the population of the imprisoned. The purpose of abolishing prisons is to create a system focused on equity, not preventing crime. Some may claim that abolishment is “too radical,” and that reform is the only viable option. but the problem is reform has been around for decades with one of the first types of reforms occurring in the way prisons run in the United States in 1870. “Is the reform that you’re proposing giving more resources to the punishment bureaucracy, or is it taking resources from the punishment bureaucracy and giving them to communities?” Alice Speri asks this question in her article called ‘The Criminal Justice is Not Broken. It is Doing What It Was Designed to Do’. She emphasizes the problem with reform and the system. The final reason for abolition is that Abolishing Prisons and the Prison system will allow the U.S to focus on social services such as housing, mental hospitals and education. : 43% of people sitting in prisons have been diagnosed with mental disorders. The Prison Policy Initiative has a page that focuses on Mental Health with policies and practices surrounding mental health. On top of the 43% of people diagnosed with mental disorders, it also highlights the lasting effects of incarceration on post-traumatic stress, anxiety and more. After de-institutionalization began and the Lanterman-Petris-Short-Act was enacted the numbers of mentally ill people entering the criminal justice doubled and since then has grown. As well as focusing on education, it is influential in determining or preventing future convictions. Most experts can agree that there is a correlation between education and crime and/or incarceration. According to research, individuals who receive education while in prison reduce their likelihood of recommitting crime by 43%. To illustrate, let me tell you about my father-in-law Jobe Fields. In 2001, Mr. Fields was incarcerated for the first time, doing four years for distribution of a controlled substance. He eventually was released in 2005. In 2008, Mr. Fields found himself facing similar circumstances but this time he was facing 20 years behind bars. At this point, he found himself incarcerated for the second time. Mr. Fields decided this time was the last time he was going to be incarcerated, he had come to this realization when his son had come to visit him in prison and decided he needed to do better. To do better Mr. Fields began working on himself, he began this process in prison and even after his release in 2015. He changed his lifestyle and friends, got his GED and eventually his CDL. It is now 9 years since Mr. Fields release, and he has gotten to embrace fatherhood, build a relationship with God and has always remained hopeful in the process. This story is an example of Mr. Fields is a story of resilience, but it also highlights how with proper resources and education he could’ve avoided incarceration the second time and it also shows how it was very likely for him to remain in system if not for a need to want more outside of bars. I have stated a fair amount of information, let me summarize. Abolition is a movement that focuses on eliminating or reducing prisons and prison systems. The reasons are that the creation of prisons was under the idea of profit and how reform is not a just solution regarding incarceration. Also, with the abolishment of prisons, resources can be redistributed to the communities. The abolishment of prisons and the prison system is a necessity in the United States.