In a country that prides itself on freedom, justice, and fairness, the United States has astonishingly high rates of incarceration: the highest in the world. Over two million people are housed in a variety of carceral institutions including jails, prisons, juvenile correctional facilities, and immigration detention centers. Criminological research, journalistic investigations, reports produced by advocacy groups and government offices, and first-hand accounts tell us — again and again — that the U.S. system of mass incarceration is harmful to individuals, families, communities, and society as a whole.
The Carleton College students who created this website provide examples of alternatives to imprisonment and carceral strategies that have the potential to humanize the experience for inmates. We travelled around the world to find these examples; we hope the following essays will stimulate necessary conversations while simultaneously encouraging widespread prison reform.
