by Chikere Zakka

I worked as a correctional officer for about nine months. During training, we were constantly told that we were the line between order and chaos. Our role was to keep inmates under control while protecting the public beyond the prison walls. That message was reinforced over and over again, shaping how we as cadets were expected to view both the job and the people in our custody. But once I was inside the facility, what I witnessed challenged that narrative. My experience made it clear that reform in the prison system is not just a want, but a need. At the same time, the problems are so deeply rooted that meaningful change cannot happen overnight. And for those wanting to see change, it feels almost like a pipe dream. There are difficult truths that must be acknowledged before real reform can take place. The prison system in the United States is intertwined with economic and social structures that benefit from it, including the use of incarcerated labor. It’s widely known that many individuals are incarcerated for low-level offenses, and that race and ethnicity play a significant role in who is arrested, charged, and sentenced.

To be clear, I am not arguing that prisons should not exist. Nor am I indiscriminately defending inmates in any way. There are individuals who pose real risks to society and should be incarcerated. At the same time, there are also many who likely should not be there at all. I worked as a correctional officer in the state of Texas, where legislation was only recently passed requiring all prison units to be equipped with air conditioning by 2032. While there are designated areas within facilities that have air conditioning, the majority of housing units do not. As correctional officers, we work in those same conditions alongside the inmates, which means we are exposed to the same extreme heat. During the summer especially, and often even in the spring and fall, temperatures can exceed 100 degrees. These conditions are not only uncomfortable but can be dangerous for everyone inside. Although the law has been passed, I did not observe any meaningful efforts toward implementation during my time there. Many laughed off the idea.

The modern prison system in the United States has evolved over centuries, shifting from early punitive models to systems that claimed to focus on rehabilitation. However, over the last several decades, policies centered on being “tough on crime” have dramatically expanded incarceration. Longer sentences, mandatory minimums, and stricter enforcement policies have led to a massive increase in the prison population. This expansion did not happen by accident. It reflects broader political and social priorities that emphasize punishment over rehabilitation. As a result, the United States now holds one of the largest incarcerated populations in the world, and the system has become deeply embedded in the country’s structure. One of the most difficult truths to acknowledge is that incarceration has become tied to economic benefit. The prison system generates billions of dollars annually through a combination of government funding and incarcerated labor. Due to the exception clause in the Thirteenth Amendment, individuals who are incarcerated can be required to work, often for extremely low wages. This labor supports various industries and government operations, creating a system in which incarceration can generate economic value. In some cases, entire local economies depend on prisons for jobs and revenue. This raises serious ethical concerns. When a system benefits financially from incarceration, it creates a conflict between profit and justice. I also served in the military, where I often saw items we used, labeled as “made at ___ prison.” I didn’t think much of it back then.

There is a lot of racial discrimination that takes place as well. Black and Brown individuals are disproportionately arrested, charged, and sentenced. These disparities are not just statistical either. They are lived experiences for many of those inside the system. Some had committed serious and violent crimes. Others were incarcerated for nonviolent offenses that, in today’s legal climate, might not result in the same punishment. There was a time when someone could receive decades in prison for possessing a small amount of marijuana. Today, laws have shifted in many places, reducing penalties or even legalizing the substance. Yet many individuals remain incarcerated under outdated sentencing structures. One conversation that has stayed with me was with an inmate who told me that the judge in his case said that if he had “not killed a white man,” he would have received less time. While statements from inmates should be taken with a grain of salt, it is difficult to ignore how closely that aligns with broader patterns of racial disparity within the justice system.

I will give more examples. There have been a lot of conversations and even conspiracies about whether the government, including agencies like the CIA, played a role in the War on Drugs. There is no concrete evidence proving it, yet it is not too farfetched to believe. History has shown us why that distrust exists. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study is one of the clearest examples in which Black men were knowingly misled and denied treatment for syphilis so the government could study the disease. The government purposely injected syphilis into a Black community to study a disease, essentially running human trials without acknowledgement. It was exposed because someone finally acted on their conscience. Peter Buxtun recognized that what was happening was wrong and chose to speak out. After learning about it from those around him, he decided to take matters into his own hands. In the end, he was the one who stood up when others did not. Knowing that something like that actually happened makes it easier to understand why people don’t always take things at face value when it comes to government policies. 

Looking at the War on Drugs, starting in 1971, what we do know is the impact it had. After the policy was put into place, the prison population in the United States grew significantly. Drug offenses became one of the main reasons people were being incarcerated, and Black and Latino communities were hit the hardest. Over 80 percent of the crack cocaine users were Black Americans and there was a major sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. These laws led to disproportionately high incarceration rates for Black Americans. This is despite the fact that drug use rates are similar across racial groups. The length of time served also increased and sentencing became much harsher. Between 1986 and 2004, the average time served for federal drug offenses nearly tripled. On average it went from twenty-twomonths of time served, to fifty-nine. That is a huge increase, especially for nonviolent offenses. Policies like mandatory minimums took away flexibility and led to people serving long sentences that didn’t always match the severity of the crime.

Moving on, there is also a deeper issue of how inmates are perceived and treated. Often, there is an unspoken understanding that once someone is incarcerated, they are no longer seen as an individual but as property of the state. This mindset creates an environment where empathy is difficult to maintain. It becomes easy to forget that every person behind those walls is someone’s family member. During my time working in corrections, I witnessed corruption among officers, including smuggling contraband such as cell phones and participating in illicit activity within the prison system. This kind of behavior undermines the entire structure of the institution. When those responsible for maintaining order engage in misconduct, it erodes trust and contributes to instability. It also highlights the need for stronger oversight and accountability within correctional facilities. At the same time, there is a culture that can encourage emotional detachment. While some level of distance is necessary for safety, it can evolve into indifference. It becomes difficult to maintain compassion in an environment that often does not prioritize humanity.

One of the most disturbing examples of systemic failure is disregard for life. This is not just about how people are treated while incarcerated, but how they are treated after death. In Mississippi, investigators uncovered over 200 unmarked graves behind a jail, where individuals had been buried without their families being notified. Many families spent years searching for their loved ones, unaware that they had died in custody and were buried without identification or acknowledgment. The discovery of these graves shocked the nation and exposed a level of neglect that is difficult to comprehend. The prison system is deeply rooted in historical, economic, and political structures. Meaningful reform will take time, effort, and a willingness to challenge long-standing practices. It will also require public awareness and accountability. Change cannot happen in isolation or silently. It must involve policymakers, communities, and those who have experienced the system firsthand.

What Needs to Be Done:

Addressing Racial Disparities

• The justice system must actively confront and reduce racial disparities at every stage, including policing, charging decisions, plea bargaining, and sentencing.
• Policies should be grounded in transparency and data-driven accountability to ensure equal treatment under the law.

Improving Living Conditions

• Basic human rights standards must be enforced in all correctional facilities, including access to safe temperatures, adequate healthcare, sanitation, and humane treatment.
• Environmental conditions such as extreme heat (or cold) in facilities must be addressed as urgent safety concerns for both incarcerated individuals and staff.

Addressing Staffing and Workforce Instability

• Chronic understaffing of correctional officers is a major safety and operational issue within prisons.
• Low staffing levels increase risks of violence, medical emergencies going unnoticed, and reduced institutional control, placing both officers and incarcerated individuals in danger.
• Understaffing also contributes to burnout, high turnover rates, and increased stress on remaining officers, which can further compromise safety and decision-making.
• Addressing this issue requires improved recruitment strategies, better retention incentives, competitive pay, mental health support for officers, and safer working conditions overall.
• A stable and adequately staffed workforce is essential not only for security but also for maintaining humane and controlled environments within correctional facilities.

Reducing Economic Incentives

• The financial structures that benefit from incarceration must be critically examined and reformed.

Ensuring Accountability and Oversight

• Stronger oversight systems are needed to prevent corruption, abuse, and misconduct within correctional facilities.
• Adequate rehabilitation resources and communities should be implemented upon release.

Rehabilitation often feels like a scam. The system claims to be about corrections and rehabilitation, but the reality does not reflect that. If rehabilitation really worked as advertised, then people would not keep coming back to prison. At some point, the cycle would stop. And that does not benefit the prison system. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people are released from prison, yet a large portion of them end up right back where they started. Studies show that about two-thirds of released individuals return to prison within just a few years. Part of the issue is that many of these programs are not as effective as they are presented to be. Some research has shown that rehabilitation programs are often overstated in their success, and in many cases they fail to produce meaningful or lasting changes. From what I have seen and learned, the system is not really centered on the individual, but on the prison system itself. Incarcerated individuals are either denied access to meaningful programs or given surface-level training that does not translate into real opportunities once they are released. There are very few consistent resources for housing, employment, mental health support, or reintegration. People are released back into society with little guidance and high expectations, which sets many of them up to fail. Now, I understand it is difficult to help someone who does not want to be helped, but it’s as if there isn’t even a healthy resource for that individual. Many of those formerly incarcerated want to change and are not given the proper tools, support, or opportunity to do so. The system fails them, and as a result, they end up right back where they started.

Working inside the prison system changed my understanding of justice. It opened my eyes to the need for changes within the penal system, and staffing reform must play a key role in that transformation. During my tenure, I encountered individuals who had committed serious crimes, but I also met people were products of circumstance, policy, and inequality. I’ve met officers who were overworked and on the brink of exhaustion, but I also met officers who had little regard for those they monitored. The experience made it clear that the system is not simply about just punishment. It is about power, structure, and priorities. It determines who is given a second chance and who is not. Reform is not about ignoring crime or excusing harmful behavior. It is about building a system that is fair, just, and humane. A system that protects society while still recognizing the humanity of those within it. 

At the end of the day, the true measure of justice is not how we treat those who are easy to care about, but how we treat those who are not.

References

PBS NewsHour. (2024). Families in disbelief after hundreds of bodies found buried behind Mississippi jail. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/families-in-disbelief-after-hundreds-of-bodies-found-buried-behind-mississippi-jail

National Public Radio. (2024, January 12). Mississippi jail graves investigation. https://www.npr.org/2024/01/12/1224449631/mississippi-jail-graves-investigation

Clear, T. R., Cole, G. F., & Reisig, M. D. (2009). American corrections (9th ed.). Wadsworth Publishing. https://books.google.com/books?id=W-Ou0yCrSsUC

The Texas Tribune. (2025, May 15). Texas prisons face extreme heat as state moves toward air conditioning by 2032. https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/15/texas-ac-prison-heat-summer/

Walk Free. (2025). 13th Amendment loophole fuels forced labour in U.S. prisons, violating human rights and benefiting government and companies. https://www.walkfree.org/news/2025/13th-amendment-loophole-fuels-forced-labour-in-us-prisons-violating-human-rights-and-benefiting-the-government-and-companies/

National Institute of Corrections. (n.d.). History of corrections in America. https://nicic.gov/resources/nic-library/corrections-trends/history-corrections-in-america

National Institutes of Health. (2022). Mass incarceration and “tough on crime” policies in the United States. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9758469/

Prison Journalism Project. (2023, June 22). Why prisons fail to rehabilitate people. https://prisonjournalismproject.org/2023/06/22/why-prisons-fail-to-rehabilitate-people/

Manhattan Institute. (n.d.). Why rehabilitating repeat criminal offenders often fails. https://media4.manhattan-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/why-rehabilitating-repeat-criminal-offenders-often-fails.pdf

Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. (n.d.). Peter Buxtun to share historic tale. https://bioethics.jhu.edu/events/peter-buxtun-to-share-historic-tale-nov-12/

Drug Policy Alliance. (2015, June). The drug war, mass incarceration, and race (Fact sheet). https://www.unodc.org/documents/ungass2016/Contributions/Civil/DrugPolicyAlliance/DPA_Fact_Sheet_Drug_War_Mass_Incarceration_and_Race_June2015.pdf

Human Rights Watch. (2000). Punishment and prejudice: Racial disparities in the war on drugs. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/usa/Rcedrg00-03.htm

Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2026, March 2). War on drugs. https://www.britannica.com/topic/war-on-drugs