Thank you CNN for the documentary “American Jails!” It was the best prison documentary I’ve ever seen. It told the story through the dueling lenses of the incarnated and the incarcerators.
As an incarcerated man of 30 years and the originator of the concept for the website, Prisoners Exchange, it validated the key missions of P. E. which is building a bridge between the incarcerated and the outside community, and showing that American jails are full of poor people who can’t afford to buy justice. Also to bring attention to the corrupting influence of prison profiteers who deplete the jails of the resources needed to enact reform or rehabilitation.
However, the most compelling part of the documentary was when the former prosecutor, Adam Foss, asked an auditorium full of people to raise their hands if they knew someone who had been in jail. Seeing so many people with raised hands begs the answer to the question…” What’s broken, American people or American jails?
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