Finding Freedom: In Struggles We Gain Strength, In Truth We Find Peace

by
Abby Zimet

http://www.commondreams.org/further/2015/02/24/finding-freedom-struggles-we-gain-strength-truth-we-find-peace

The nightmare that is the U.S. prison system has the largest inmate population in the world - over 1.57 million inmates, many sentenced for minor drug crimes, plus another estimated 12 million cycling through county jails for shorter periods - and a recidivism rate that tops out at around 70%, particularly in the first year of release. Amidst ongoing debate about the meaning of those appalling numbers - which reflect, in part, the ineffectiveness of incarceration and the impact of broader social, economic and educational inequities that led to it in the first place - a number of initiatives nationwide try to help inmates abandoned by a broken prison system get on with their lives once they're "freed," albeit woefully ill-equipped, from that system.


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Please go spend a bit of time at the link.

http://www.commondreams.org/further/2015/02/24/finding-freedom-struggles-we-gain-strength-truth-we-find-peace