30 Days

We watched a video in class about a guy going to jail to see what it would be like. He went for 30 days at a jail in Virgina but got out early because he spent 80% of the time there so as a reward, he got released. This video was really interesting to watch and it really surprised me. I didn't expect them to sleep in such crowded rooms where there's no privacy. Although I expected them to be very limited in activities, I didn't expect them to be stuck in the same place the entire day with no windows. The reading, Courtrooms 302, about the Cook County Jail downtown was also surprising to me. The system of which America uses is proven not to work. The people who get sent to jail most likely end up back in jail once they're released. The makers of the system don't truly want the best for the inmates. If there are people who have mental health problems committing crimes, they're sent to jail instead of a mental institution. The officers treat them the same regardless of their mental state, when the mentally sick people should be sent somewhere better to get real help. People would rather pay for prisons than for rehab programs or institutions that would cost more money. The rehab programs and institutions would help more than cheap prisons where the officials don't care about you. All of the people who go to jail aren't necessarily "bad" people, they just make stupid decisions and those decisions grow and progress into more bad decisions. It would be difficult to relate jail to my life because I've never been there, but I'm grateful for my circumstances and opportunities.