Society.

Editor,

The problem of brutality in American prisons begins with the brutality of American-style capitalism. The norm in American society is anxious struggle to make ends meet -- or, if you are lucky, to climb the net worth ladder -- all with grudging, if any, support from a society whose motto is: "I've got mine. You are on your own."

Inmates in American prisons are understood to be failures, societal atoms who as a result of their own shortcomings can not keep up with well adjusted Horatio Algers who "play by the rules." There just happens to be something wrong, is the American view, with those 2.2 million Americans who regrettably have no value except to be warm bodies private prisons can collect rent on, and it is their fault.

It is the same reason poor people are poor, unarmed people of color are beaten and shot by police, foreign governments have to be overthrown, countries have to be invaded: you are either one of us or we don't know you.

Don't ask a corporation or rich person to waste their money helping you succeed in life. They need their money for themselves. And if you don't know that success in life is money and money for you comes from hard work, there is something wrong with you.

There is no society in the USA into which to reintegrate offenders. They offend in the first place because there is no society. Just the question of money and who you exploit to get it.

Re: "The Radical Humaneness of Norway’s Halden Prison" (3/29/2015)