Should Children be Allowed to Visit or Tour Prisons?

“Children, I have an announcement to make. Our trip to the cartoon museum has been canceled. Instead, we will be going to a maximum security prison for our cultural awareness outing.” Wouldn’t that be interesting? How would kids react? How would parents react? It would definitely shake up middle America to the core. And, that is quite possibly what this country needs.

The prison system is corrupt. There is no doubt in any civilized person’s mind. Inmates are heard in like cattle. Courts are the seemingly new fast food franchise of our legal system, and lawyers and judges wash each others hands more than a hypochondriac with an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Why then should we allow children to see and tour our prisons? It’s common sense really. Knowing and seeing how easily you can be put away and become lost in this “so called” system, should scare the living quaker oats out of anyone. The hard nosed bullies, the wise-cracking cheerleader, and especially the kid who feels “getting high” justifies their existence, might walk out with a whole new life-view as well as a well thought-out overview of the previously “unknown”.

The enormity of walking through the halls of prison, the stench of urine, the lack of sunlight, the stone-faced guards, would be, should be, enough to doubt any further resistance to authority. At the very least, knowing that family and friends would be lost in the dimension of time, might allow them an enlightened out of body experience.

Children will be able to see first-hand the orange jumpsuits that squash any sense of individuality, the bland food that’s slopped on, the empty souls behind the eyes of habitual offenders. Walking the cold cement floors devoid of anything soft and pliable will send shivers down innocent children’s spines. An amazing experience at the very least, that won’t soon ever be forgotten.

Many will view this as harsh and perhaps even an unnecessary undertaking in order to prove a point. I’m sure there’s definitely a case to be made to validate that view. But, where are we as the supposed richest and greatest country on the earth? Prisons have risen to alarmingly catastrophic levels. We have more recidivism than anywhere else in the world. Why? Most Americans today know someone who has been in prison or is serving right now. Shouldn’t that cause an alarm of some sort to go off? Drastic measures seem to be in order. If not sooner, then later may be too late.