Family Ties Stronger then Iron Bars?

          With the holiday season amongst us, I have been seeing signs of strong family ties everywhere I look. Children are taught to make poems and turkey cut-outs that include the statement "I am thankful for my family." As cliche as it may sound, I think this time of year really reminds us how important family really is. What Americans go through in order to see their loved ones during the holidays, for just a day, or a few hours or even a minute, really reflects the American value of family.
         

 With this in mind, I thought carefully as my American Studies class talked about the "Prison  Industrial Complex." An intimidating phrase at best, loaded with controversy, statistics, and pain. In short, the Prison Industrial Complex (or PIC for short), is a term used to describe the current state that many see in America's prison system. As the prison systems are becoming supplied by private sectors, these private sectors are starting to own the prisons. With private groups owning anything, there is a clear desire for profit, and with this desire comes the controversy. To these private groups, more inmates means more profit, so the more people arrested, the richer these groups get. As selfish as it sounds, it is reality. More people are being arrested today then ever before. As is clear in the graph shown, the prison population rates have increased dramatically over the past 30+ years, however the violent crime rate has gone down. A conclusion can easily be made that the things people are getting arrested for these days is not violent crimes, but rather more menial crimes that result in arrests for the prison's profit.
            With all of this in mind regarding the PIC, I go back to my original thought of family ties. I am quite aware that to be in prison, you must have done something wrong, and often times it is something extremely wrong that prisoners were sentenced for. However, it seems that with the PIC there have been more arrests then ever made on people who really shouldn't be serving a sentence at all. I suddenly began to feel a lot of sympathy toward the young children of imprisoned parents. I thought about the family ties, and how much Americans value family. So when these children go and visit their parents, I can't help but wonder what is going through their mind. The children give so much just to have a quick conversation with their beloved parent. I wonder however, what kid of respect these kids can have for their parents. If their parent was a victim of an unjust sentence, do the children know that, or do they see their Mom or Dad as just another bad guy. I would be interested in hearing about how others feel these children's lives are effected by their parents imprisonment, and if you believe the PIC is a direct cause for these children's potential misery.