America ranks first in the world for incarceration rates and population ratios. “As of mid-2006, approximately 2.2 million Americans were incarcerated in local, state, and federal prisons.” In the 1970s the incarcerated ratio was 165 per 100,000, in the 1980s the proportion rose to 200 per 100,000 (Abramsky 2008). In classical Greek mythology, the Furies are a trinity of goddesses who avenge all crimes and deviations of society with terrible sentences such as insanity, molestation, and other life-long relentless punishments. The American Furies: Crime, Punishment and Vengeance in the Age of Mass Imprisonment reveals rising incarceration rates in the United States, the fate of those in the criminal system, discrimination within the justice system against minorities, and other implications the dramatic increase in the prison population. Although prisons are traditionally considered rehabilitative units to correct and deter crime, these penal institutions are doing the opposite: producing confirmed criminals incapable of integrating into mainstream society. Prison conditions, prison populations and incarceration rates show the tragic terror of the public incapable of reforming criminals. The private prison system is a growth industry fueled by taxpayer dollars. Petty criminals are incarcerated alongside tough, hardened criminals. This situation causes violence to be reproduced in both younger and inexperienced inmates. The deplorable conditions of prisons are justified. Serious human rights violations occur inside the cells. Prisoners are beaten, fed unhealthy food, locked in unsanitary rooms, and sometimes confined and transported to prison neighborhoods far from their home states, far from family support but far from their criminal networks. The imbalance between the races represented in prison only reflects the bias of the justice system in which judges sentence criminals based on their ethnicity or nationality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Incarceration rates describe the ratio of how many prisoners per population of 100,000 are locked up in correctional institutions. The United States boasts the highest incarceration rate in the world: 753 per 100,000 people in 2008. This ratio represents a 240% increase since 1980. This ratio means that 3.5% of the US adult population is behind bars. Compared to the United States, the rest of the world has much lower incarceration rates, for example Russia ranks second with 629 per 100,000; Rwanda with 593 per 100,000 and Cuba with 531 per 100,000. Compare these numbers to those of Australia 134, Canada 116, England 153, and Japan 63 (Schmitt 2010). The United States leads the list in incarceration rates due to its privatized prison system. Federal and state penitentiaries use the facilities of private owners; thus making imprisonment a money-making business. In 2008, federal, state, and local correctional institutions requested $75 billion to continue supporting the incarcerated population. Criminologists note that if prisoners convicted of nonviolent crimes were not incarcerated, prison costs would be reduced to $16.9 billion per year. Another reason for mass incarceration in America is the discriminatory sentencing of prisoners of certain races, particularly blacks and Hispanics, who together make up about three-quarters of the prison population. Also the tendency towards prison sentenceslonger for minor crimes is a contributing factor to mass incarceration. The prison system is a system that systematically disenfranchises prisoners, depriving poor minorities of a fundamental right. As a result, part of the population remains voiceless. The implications here become more political as in inner city constituencies residents cannot cast their vote and decide on the government or even stand for elections. Exploitation in prison also enriches the owners of prisons who take unfair advantage of the work of prisoners. Inmates are typically paid about 23 cents an hour; the minimum wage law does not apply and is not enforced in prisons. Prisoners are usually employed to work for railroad companies, clothing companies, and other manufacturers. Although the United States practices mass incarceration, the number of prisoners by race and gender differs widely, highlighting stark inequities in the justice system. Among African Americans, the incarceration rate is 3,138 per 100,000, among Hispanics 1,259 per 100,000, and among whites 481 per 100,000. This disconcerting information reveals that a cross-section of the population receives the full brunt of the law while another gets lighter sentences. The disproportionate disparity between minorities in prisons compared to the white majority speaks against the one-sided justice system and its propensity to impose harsher punishments on people of color. Regarding gender, women represent 7% of the prison population. 29% of inmates are African American women. The incarceration rate for American women is 150 per 100,000. For Hispanic women, 17% of women's prisons are staffed by women with an incarceration rate of 79 per 100,000. On the other hand, white women represent 48% of the prison population, but with an incarceration rate of 50 per 100,000 (Dignity for Schools 2008, Pettit 2004). Conditions of confinement depend on and impact, to a large extent, health and well-being. -to be prisoners. The harshness of prison conditions leads to the proliferation of diseases in the prison camp and death. (Abramsky 2008) also attests to the “inedible-looking, low-quality” food served in prisons. Limited access to healthcare facilities for inmates is responsible for inmates' illness. Popular prison violence, in which violent prisoners are consigned alongside nonviolent offenders who have committed minor crimes, (1) exacerbates violence in other prisoners and (2) endangers the lives and general well-being of other prisoners. The overcrowding situation in prisons is nothing new. Due to high incarceration rates that continue to increase every year, prison facilities are almost unable to hold more occupants. Competition for rooms and other facilities such as toilets, bathrooms and sleeping areas is fierce. Some justify adverse prison conditions because prison is designed to make criminals uncomfortable and serves as a deterrent to repeat offenders. Others protest against subhuman treatment that violates prisoners' basic human rights (Drago 2008). This strategic exploitation keeps the prisoner class continually indebted and insolvent, trapped in a cycle of poverty. At the same time, inmates are unable to benefit from much-needed programs such as education, drug rehabilitation and counseling due to mounting government cuts. The composition of the prison population is not very diverse. The representation of prison inmates is a select cross-section of economically disadvantaged minority males aged in their 20sand 40 years old. Not only that, prison populations are home to more foreign-born or immigrant populations than Native Americans. Some criminologists conclude that immigrants are responsible for crime and, consequently, sanctions against immigrants tend to be harsher when there is a threat of deportation (Moehling 2009). The American justice system has naturally distrusted immigrants or foreign-born citizens who commit more serious crimes. The response to the release of this data gives rise to “anti-immigration” legislation aimed at discouraging more flexible American policies on immigration and national security. Immigrants also have a greater tendency to settle in central areas of cities where crime rates are higher. Long sentences for relatively minor crimes are behind the population explosion in American prisons. Since the 1970s and 1980s, southern US states have been subject to harsher penalties for minority criminals. Longer detention of criminals in prisons, however, generates higher costs for providing housing, food, facilities, and programs to criminals. Furthermore, criminals' recidivism tendencies continually drag them back to the cells they once left. Repeat offenders do not cultivate the skills to act as contributing citizens of society. Frequent relationships with other hardened criminals accustom them to worse behavior, joining criminal networks and returning to prison. Other penal policies, such as parole, have indirectly promoted an increase in the prison population. In the 1980s and 1990s, U.S. lawmakers eliminated opportunities for early parole and weakened education, job training and drug rehabilitation programs. The policies were calculated to remove some incentives for good behavior in prisons, such as visits. Because local and state facilities cannot accommodate an ever-growing prison population, the migration of prisoners to out-of-state private penitentiaries has occurred. Transferring juvenile delinquents to adult penal institutions increases incarceration rates. Zero tolerance rules in which minors are not given second chances also perpetuate the increase in inmates populating prisons. While courts and juvenile justice systems work to specifically deal with juvenile offenders, the current trend sees increasingly younger offenders in adult prisons with indelible prison records and educated in a life of crime, modeled on their prison counterparts. Adult inmates are increasingly populated by 15-, 16-, and 17-year-old juveniles as some states pass laws decreeing that young offenders who commit certain crimes be tried as adults and therefore receive adult punishment. The implications of juvenile correctional treatment are devastating as juveniles become more quickly accustomed to prison culture and are therefore more susceptible to engaging in worse behavior and becoming victims themselves of older, more experienced criminals. Statistics reveal that children of incarcerated parents are more willing to end up in prison themselves. According to criminologist H. Warren Durham's detailed study, “for some adult offenders the [hardening] process begins early, perhaps in the pre-adolescent years. Delinquent habits, attitudes, and forms of behavior are unlikely to be easily abandoned when the child becomes an adult” (Dunham 295). So those who are in prison are on the path to ruin due to almost entrenched vice. Due to practice and contact with other hardened companions, the.