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As a Canadian, I am concerned that we, as a country, are trying to follow the U.S. down the rabbit hole of "if we build it, they will come" in terms of incarceration rates and the use of prisons for punishment instead of rehabilitation. I recognize that prisons (and jails) serve the societal purpose of maintaining order and the rule of law, but one has to wonder about the true intent of higher rates and longer terms, when inmate populations are so badly skewed in terms of ethnicity, both here and in the U.S.

According to the (U.S.) Bureau of Justice Statistics, there appears to have been a brief epiphany somewhere, such that there was a prison population decrease during 2012, the fourth consecutive year of decline in the U.S. correctional population. However, this was also reported to be the slowest rate of decline observed since 2009, when the population first decreased.

By comparison, (and I hope with some shame), the CBC recently noted that in the report prepared by Correctional Investigator of Canada Howard Sapers, overall spending in the Canadian justice system rose 23 per cent in the past decade. “During that same period, Canada’s crime rate fell by exactly the same proportion,” he said.

“The growth in the custody population appears to be policy, not crime driven. After all, crime rates are down while incarceration rates grow,” he said, adding that crime across Canada has been declining for more than a decade, long before the current government’s “tough on crime” agenda.

Sapers said the United States, with one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, has changed course, having realized that more people in prison doesn’t mean safer streets. “If there was a relationship between public safety and incarceration, then the downtowns of the big American cities would be the safest environments in the world; they’re not,” he said.

Under Canadian law, prison is supposed to be seen as a last resort and should be used as little as possible for the shortest time necessary. As well, it says prisoners continue to have human rights and are sent to prison as punishment, not for punishment.

Sapers says recent changes by the (Canadian) government that see inmates serving longer sentences, cuts in prison pay and imposing austere conditions do little to improve public safety; instead, it makes it more difficult to rehabilitate and reintegrate them back into society upon their release." http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada-s-prison-population-at-all-time-high-1.2440039

Sometimes, "Made In America" is not a good thing; the over-use of prisons is one example.

The size and racial composition of the American prison system is shameful -- and it clearly compromises any claim we might have to being a global leader in "liberty." Mandatory sentencing laws have contributed to the problem, but one can see, I'm happy to say, positive changes underway now. As the following article notes, the government is attempting to reduce the number of young people who go to jail after committing some offence at school. Canada, perhaps, can learn from our mistakes as well as our efforts to correct them...
http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/01/u-s-moves-end-school-prison-pipeline/

U.S. Moves to End “School-to-Prison Pipeline”
By Carey L. Biron
WASHINGTON, Jan 9 2014 (IPS) - The U.S. government has released landmark new guidelines aimed at tackling overreliance on punitive disciplinary measures within the national school system, with students being expelled or even referred to law enforcement for minor infractions.
Multiple studies suggest a steadily worsening behavioural track record for students initially disciplined for relatively small problems.
Critics of such tough disciplinary approaches have for years warned that they directly impact on students’ future prospects, with multiple studies suggesting a steadily worsening behavioural track record for students initially disciplined for relatively small problems. Such practices have also been found to have a disproportionate impact on minority students and those with disabilities, leading to accusations of systemic bias.
“A routine school disciplinary infraction should land a student in the principal’s office, not in a police precinct,” Eric Holder, the attorney-general, said while unveiling the new guidelines. This is the first time the U.S. government has offered such guidance, the result of a joint effort between the Justice and Education Departments as well as longstanding advocacy from civil society.
Civil rights, anti-poverty and many education groups are lauding the guidance, which encourages schools to come up with local-level solutions to discipline, sets clear boundaries for law enforcement, and pushes greater roles for counsellors and mental health workers.
The new approaches also mark a turning point in the heightened securitisation that has taken place in schools following an infamous shooting in 1999 left more than a dozen students dead.
“After that tragic incident we saw the move to push towards a ‘zero tolerance’ approach and the heightened presence of police in schools. But that combination was a recipe for disaster,” Thena Robinson-Mock, project director for the Ending the Schoolhouse-to-Jailhouse Track Campaign at the Advancement Project, an advocacy group, told IPS.

First of all, I agree that there should be some form of penal system that provides a correctional service for the rehabilitation of offenders. I do not agree that it should be a facility with others of the same dispositions. When one is placed in an institution with like-minded people/offenders, will not they maintain their modus operandi because they have been feeding from and into that ideology? It is a well known fact that the prison is a place of violence and corruption among the inmates, this usually occurs within a few days of an arrival.One must conform to the standards of incarcerated life or there are repercussions.Living that life before they have even gotten there and than maintaining it internally how can one expected to be rehabilitated 'criminals' when they return to their home communities. Somebody mentioned the prison system is a corporation and I agree. Rehabilitating and getting to the root of the problem with the offender over a period of time is a more viable solution.. Creating these mega-institutions where more violence is being perpetrated has never been effective. Over the centuries the barbaric culture has been replaced with more modern methods of inmate reform. That's a laugh for evidently there are still prisons and prisoners with no end in sight.

The rehabilitation program mentioned above and its potential for positive results is a great example of reformative practices that can be used to eventually reintegrate the previously incarcerated back into society and lead them towards a more positive lifestyle. It seems a sad state of affairs that the justice system itself is not responsible for this reform, but relies on the work of a non-profit organization. The system (especially with their increasing for-profit models as mentioned above) thus sends a negative message to inmates that the law does not care for the rehabilitation of their citizens, but only for punishment, further encouraging divergent behaviour.
Hopefully, with the move to remove mandatory sentencing, the U.S. is moving toward the more viable solution that Rose mentions.
In terms of the international reputation of the U.S., I suspect that their ineffective justice and prison system (and other practices that dismiss the well being of their citizens ie. the strong opposition to a universal health care system) juxtaposed with the broadcasted image of "the land of the free and the brave" contributes to an outsider view of the U.S. as hypocritical: putting the economy and capitalism over humanity and their citizens. At the very least, the priorities seem to be disordered.

The Constitution claims the government exists and functions in a way that maintains the wellbeing of its people. It doubles the safety of its citizens and makes sure both their legal an unalienable rights are respected and taken in consideration. Freedom and Equality is what the Constitution is all about; however, those words exist only on Paper.

The roots of racism are so strong and buried so deep in the US society that even today racism and inequalities are still present. It is unfortunate that the justice system which is considered to be one’s shelter at times betrays their trust only because of their skin color.
Racial disparities are present in the policies and practices of the laws and are influenced either by overly generalized stereotypes or personal bias that later influence the decision making. The sources of the stereotypes are the structural disadvantages in communities of color. African Americans have always been at a lower position on the societal hierarchical ladder of the US resulting with them being disenfranchised. It is the sole environment they live in that develops their social etiquette of a “born to be perpetrator”; the violation of their right to equal treatment in the education process and the poverty they live in given the presence of racism in the employment process.
All those aspects influence their future in the justice system. The percentage of African Americans trapped in the justice system is extremely disproportionate to their portion in the overall US population making the notion of almost half of the African American population being incarcerated debatable. The overrepresentation of African Americans in the nationwide prison and jail population influences the other half of them negatively. It decreases their chances of success in society and increases their marginalization in all spheres of common life.
Even the punishment of juvenile delinquency is not immune to the racial disparities of the justice system. The numbers say 77% of the convicts sentenced to LWOP are of color. Since 2009, in 14 of the 37 states with people serving LWOP for juvenile delinquency, more than 65% have been African-Americans.

It seems like racism will never cease to exist. Consequently, is it a good idea to blindly follow the model of the American Prison System only because the USA is claimed to be “the most powerful country in the world”?