I am reminded of the line from "Shawshank Redemption" where the warden says that when it comes to prisons people only want to pay for "more walls, guards, and cells." The United States' system, for public and private prisons, is punish, punish, punish. It's counterproductive and creates more problems than it solves but we have to all work at it. And this is in addition to the nearly 70% of jail inmates who haven't been convicted but sit in jail. Florida puts people in jail for just about anything and some judges own stock in the private prisons where they send people.

Thank you for your piece.