Social Class

In class this week we learned about prison and how the increasing population of prisons relates to social class and income. The Henry Horner homes in Chicago are filled with violence and drugs and people from that area are constantly taken away to jail by the police, without question. Kids from Naperville were found in that area buying heroin and when caught, their licenses pended suspension and the police called their parents. Why is it that the poor are taken to jail almost immediately, but the rich get away with the same act and little consequences?

When reading Courtroom 302, the author successfully shows the reader the general population of these jailhouses: low-income minorities. These people weren't even charged with anything yet, they were in jail waiting for their court date. Low-income citizens are being dragged to jail for anything they can be charged with because the police know that they cannot afford their own lawyer to free them, unlike the rich. Someone who has been in prison before is likely to end up there again so the poor people are being caught in this constant cycle and cannot build their lives. We claim we don't believe in social class in America and that everyone is free but what is actually happening is that the poor are getting more miserable, acquiring help from no one, while the rich are having the road to freedom paved for them.