Vatche Petrossian

Professor Hamman
Political Science 001
5 May 2016
Final Research Paper
Minor drug offenders fill your prisons you don't even flinch
all our taxes paying for your wars against the new non-rich
-Serj Tankian, System of a Down
It seems like visiting a prison is similar to visiting a completely different country with
its own unique culture and life style, except its more or less around your neighborhood. All
the inmates are forced to dress a certain way, eat certain foods, socialize in a certain manner,
and they use their own modification of a language we share. According to Websters
dictionary, the legal definition of a prisoner is a person deprived of liberty and kept under
involuntary restraint, confinement, or custody; especially: one under arrest, awaiting trial, on
trial, or serving a prison sentence. Many states prefer their operations to run more smoothly,
so to achieve this the state outsources the construction and operation of prisons to private
companies. This is often cheaper than having the states run the prisons themselves. However,
these private prison companies need an occupancy of at least 85% of cells in their facility
depending on the state (Kirkham, 4). These companies get paid for each inmate that occupies
their prison, so if the prison is pretty empty, then theyre not going to be making much
money. This system incentivizes these private prisons to fill up their prison quota so they
make income, and avoid going out of business. Prisons arent cheap, in fact, they are quite
expensive to maintain. Since theyre expensive, the states typically dont want to be pooling
the majority of their money towards these prisons, so they are handed off to private
companies. This creates the illusion that the state has more elbow room to work on issues that
they find worthy. The fact of the matter is that handing over state prisons to private
companies more often than not causes detriment to the states population. Decades after
decades of anti-drug legislation has caused a massive increase in the prison population. A

Vatche Petrossian
Professor Hamman
Political Science 001
5 May 2016
recent study by the Huffington post shows that 50.1% of prisoners are serving time for drug
offences (Miles, 4). People are receiving absurd prison sentences for minor drug offenses.
In a Supreme Court case in 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that overcrowding prisons
with an unsustainably large population was considered cruel and unusual punishment, and
was also in violation with the 8th amendment (Plata v. Brown). This has been a great service
to the underserved prisoners. The overcrowding of prisons is directly responsible for the
inability to care for the entire prison population. Ironically, the prison population is
ludicrously overcrowded because of minor drug offences that have been pushed forwards by
lobbyists in favor of private prisons. The reasoning is that if these private prison companies
fill up their prison quota, then theyre ensured theyll stay in businessor theyre under the
idea that they will if the American people dont speak up about it. All recent research shows
that treatment to people who suffer from addictions should be increased, and mandatory
sentences for minor drug offenses should be done away with. In the year 2,000, Portugal was
faced with one of the worst drug problems in all of Europe. One percent of Portugals
population was addicted to heroin (Greenwald, 14). For a while Portugal attempted to solve
this problem the American way by stigmatizing the drug with shame and negative
propaganda, but every year the problem only worsened. The Prime Ministerwho was also
leading this drug wargot fed up with the problem and organized a panel of doctors and
scientists to figure out how to truly combat this problem and put an end to it. This panel led
by Dr. Joo Goulo came to the following conclusion. The doctor quotes, Decriminalize all
drugs from cannabis to crack, but" heres the important bit"take all the money we used
to spend on cutting addicts off, on disconnecting them, and spend it instead on reconnecting
them with society" (Hari, 12). This stance is the polar opposite the United States has, and this
is why our underserved prison population is suffering more and more by the dayeven
though all recent studies point towards rehabilitation and decriminalization. Its this very

Vatche Petrossian
Professor Hamman
Political Science 001
5 May 2016
mislead mindset that America has which perpetuates this toxic cycle of power, greed, abuse,
and this is what lands many people lengthy prison sentences instead of actual help. Fifteen
years after Portugal implemented these changes, their drug use has gone down fifty percent
(British Journal of Toxicology, 6). Fifty, thats an incredible change. HIV has gone down,
over dose has gone down, and overall addiction is also massively down. This is the stance
that America needs to take because the underserved prison population is mostly filled up with
minor drug offenders who desperately need help.
In 2007, California had a court ruling on prison sentences being unconstitutional for
prisoners that have medical and mental health problems and produced needless suffering and
death (Almeida, 2). The rule ended up ordering California to reduce its prison population by
30,000. Justice Samuel Alito and the late Justice Scalia filed dissents against this ruling,
specifically quoting that this is perhaps the most radical injunction issued by a court in our
nations history and that the majority is gambling with the safety of the people of
California (Almeida, 3). Whether this was a good idea or not depends entirely on the
situation. These prisoners were being severely mistreated. In the states prisons, the suicide
rate has been 80% higher than other prisons nationwide (Almeida, 4). Additionally, Justice
Kennedy quoted that a prisoner dying every six or seven days due to constitutional
deficiencies was an uncontested fact (Almeida, 4). Not every prisoner is unjustified, but in
this specific case, this Supreme Court ruling has been beneficial to the mistreated prison
population.
In conclusion, people from all different kinds of backgrounds fall into this lifestyle.
Some land in prison unintentionally, and other cultures glorify going to prison because they
believe it changes their social status within their peers. The uneducated and misinformed
youth dont receive the education that they need, and are often exploited to receive lengthy

Vatche Petrossian
Professor Hamman
Political Science 001
5 May 2016
prison sentences which fuels the private prison companies. This community needs proper
education and care to fully receive help because they need a shift in their consciousness.
Education is the most important part above all. If people can be role models for those who
werent fortunate enough to receive initial care at home, then numerous problems would
gradually dissolve.

Vatche Petrossian
Professor Hamman
Political Science 001
5 May 2016
Greenwald, Glenn. Drug DECRIMINALIZATION IN PORTUGAL
"Kirkham, Chris.Prison Quotas Push Lawmakers To Fill Beds, Derail Reform." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 9 Sept. 2013. Web. 07 May 2016.
"Transcript of "Everything You Think You Know about Addiction Is Wrong" "Johann Hari:
Everything You Think You Know about Addiction Is Wrong.
Miles, Kathleen. "Just How Much The War On Drugs Impacts Our Overcrowded Prisons, In
One Chart." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 3 Oct. 2014. Web. 07 May 2016.
Liptak, Adam. "Justices, 5-4, Tell California to Cut Prisoner Population." The New York
Times. The New York Times, 23 May 2011. Web. 07 May 2016.
Supreme Court Case, Plata v. Brown http://prisonlaw.com//wpcontent/uploads/2015/09/Feb2014Order.pdf