Our prisons are overflowing, and inmates across the US are pawns to be moved around a board. The goal of prison isn’t opportunities for reform and a chance to improve on the part of prisoners, nor does it provide any sort of restorative justice to victims and their families. Indeed, many of the crimes for which people are in prison are victimless, crimes against the state only, with judges forced to apply mandatory sentencing thanks to laws generated by overzealous legislatures and populations. That the prison system is in need of vital reform is indisputable, and the issue is particularly pressing in the juvenile detention industry, which isn’t just deeply broken: it deprives children and teens of opportunities to build their lives, thus creating another generation of people pushed into criminal lives. [read the full story here]