I understand your point, Jay, but invite you to think about this as a complex situation. Mass incarceration is too political a term and as such impairs judgement. I think this is the reason for your reaction — I think you reacted from the gut. I invite you to act as if no one ever tried claiming that — or verifying if — such a thing as mass incarceration happens; that way, we may better see the texture of the issue at hand.

There are people who have done awful stuff and got incarcerated because of that. We agree, and I think no one could be called a liar for stating that.

But there are other ways to land in prison by doing any number of things that don’t include being an awful human being (including: being in the wrong place at the wrong time, police incompetence, public defender’s apathy/incompetence/overwork, overzealous DA’s, overzealous legislation, or other factors, plus combinations).

Whether those are a big percentage of the incarcerations or not is not the point — the mere fact that unfair incarcerations happen should give us pause for thought on how we treat convicts and ex convicts.

Let’s work with a specific nuance from this complex topic (and I do have to choose, for the sake of brevity): If we picture someone unlucky enough to be born in the wrong family at the wrong point in time, it’s easy to see how they may grow up with no good role models, poor nutrition, and poor education, all through no fault of their own. It’s easy to see how they may become accustomed to seeing family going in and out of prison for a certain kind of crime — say, picking pockets— and perceive that situation as normal. It’s easy to see how they may, at certain point in their teenage years, start doing it, because their support group may be comprised of people related to the crime those people in their family who are constantly in and out of the picture commit. It’s easy to see how they may wind up incarcerated before becoming of age. How could we, as a society-which-builds-prisons, help that specific person? Just like when building any sort of product, this question should be answered for all archetypes of users. Yes, I’m saying a prison is a product, and society is its wholesale user — even those who stay out are impacted by its performance.

In any case, if we run this kind of exercise, we can come up with a load of things to do that may or may not help different kinds of people; I hazard that we should be optimizing for a better society while still being as kind to every person as is feasible. In the particular archetype I’ve described: education, therapy, relocation, insertion of role models and a support group are factors that may contribute to their future well-being and staying away from recidivism. I hope to be wrong, but I think that kind of effort isn’t happening at any significant level.

Let’s imagine for a moment that a particular person fitting the archetype lands in a place where they’re left in peace. No abuse, no threats, from anyone. Imagine the teenager gets in, lumped up with other people who may or may not have their same background — who may have committed lesser or worse crimes than they, with more or less malice. Imagine they just eat, exercise, socialize, sometimes interact with their family through calls and visits, and sleep. Until the day comes when they get out. Is it realistic to think that something is going to be different for them? That they won’t relapse? I don’t think so. And I am very convinced that for most, the prison experience is way worse than what I just described.

Even if they go out somehow with a different perspective, the situation is still hard. That particular person will very likely be left as a last resort when applying for any kind of work, making it very hard to earn a living — and making relapsing or committing other crimes an ever more viable choice than starving, begging, or involuntary freeloading with the family. The point being that the situation, even for merely unlucky — as opposed to actively evil — people, is really bleak.

I’m all for a well-placed locus of control and sense of agency; thus, I recognize that some things aren’t within our power to change. That in particular makes me think that prisons offer a golden opportunity: people who may literally know better — or have more agency — can help out people who haven’t had the chance to learn better — or who don’t have enough agency to change their path.

This may be a good moment to reiterate that I think there are people in jail who have done awful stuff, I’m not being apologetic to them , but trying to take a productive, non-trivializing attitude towards the matter.

The OP makes me think about the way we who have more agency haven’t done enough for those who don’t — not even enough to help ourselves suffer through fewer crimes.

If you can think of anything that we could do to realistically palliate the unfortunate among those in these situations, no matter how slightly, please let me know — maybe we can change the world for the better?