It is easy to criticize others for things that are easy for us ourselves. I mean, it’s easy for me to say that a person who’s been arrested and jailed a bunch of times is a career criminal.

It is hard to imagine that nearly 80% of all inmates are likely to return to prison within three to five years of release. Writing from the point of view of someone who has never been to prison, of course I see recidivism from a different perspective than someone who has embraced the fight behind the wall.

Still, I wouldn’t have had to go to jail to see how 80% of inmates who get readmitted are a waste of taxpayer money and how this number is way too high. Who do we have to call to find real solutions to the problem of mass incarceration in the United States so that the term “revolving door” no longer defines our criminal justice system? Something has to change because so many of our people reoffend, over and over again.

Why are so many people of color locked up in America? Does the US criminal justice system play a role in the high recidivism rates from the use of private prison companies like CoreCivic? Perhaps, or is it that the system sustains an environment that makes many inmates lazy and dependent on the very institution that incarcerates them? I think it’s a bit of both.

However, I’m sure many are wrestling with the question of why people return to prison so often for minor offenses under the law, such as failing to pay child support. In fact, 30% go back to prison for crimes that involve violating probation or probation, not for committing new crimes. I feel the dependency is perpetuated with longer sentences and a lack of rehabilitation programs like the KyteSketch Mail Art Program. As a result, inmates become institutionalized and often revert to the ways they were initially landed in jail.

Ultimately, freedom rests on the shoulders of the individual. The imprisoned man or woman has to change. He or she needs to stop falling weak into old habits and really make the effort to be independent by thinking smart and avoiding risky behaviors. I’m sure if people would try harder to change themselves, not the system, they would find that staying out of jail is easy.

Look, the system won’t change. We have to change for the system to change because a call for prison reform is not going to work because there is no real prison reform. Reform comes from within – and it’s called self-control… and it’s also the most reliable use of reform available today… self-reform.