That's a fictional drama.

There are better resources for learning about the American prison system, just like you probably shouldn't learn about MI6 from James Bond.

Fictional dramas are shown in schools all the time, even if they're not an official part of the curriculum. If we can be shown Pocahontas and The Patriot (a film where among other things Mel Gibson slays 30+ British soldiers with a tomahawk of all things) we can be shown one that portrays American cruelties as well.

> If we can be shown Pocahontas and The Patriot...

I don't think schools should include either of these, either, beyond "we're having a relaxing movie day as a treat". Certainly no one should base their understanding of American history on them.

From the Wikipedia entry of this movie, it sounds like he killed someone while driving drunk. Hard to call that a "DUI."

> One night he drives his wife and friends home after dinner and causes a collision which kills one of his friends. Advised to take a plea deal due to him being under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident, Jacob is sentenced to 16 months at the California Institution for Men in Chino.

Felon (2008) is a decent drama movie that follows an interesting story as well. It's worth mentioning that the vast majority of people locked up aren't there for DUI, rape, murder, theft, etc. They are there because some plant is illegal.

If this was all "working" I don't think I would be as upset. If the streets were clear of drug addicts and addiction rate was low, then it would all be "worth" the cost were paying both in dollars and cost of violating others rights. But, it doesn't work.

>They are there because some plant is illegal.

That's a common belief, but it isn't true. More than half of people in state prisons are serving sentences for violent crimes. I see you were in the Feds, so it's almost half that are in there for a drug-trafficking offense. Your perception is likely somewhat skewed since you were in a low or camp, not a medium or pen. As you certainly know, there are security classifications in the BOP, and non-violent drug-traffickers typically won't be housed with the rapists and murderers. Someone with 0-11 points isn't going to be around someone with 24+ points.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/five-myths...

That's an interesting perspective, however those Low/Minimum security zones account for more than half of the entire federal population:

Minimum 23,439 (15.4%) Low 55,133 (36.3%)

https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_sec_l...

Also consider that there are inmates that didn't actually commit violent crimes that are labeled as such because they received gun enhancements to their sentence for the ownership of a firearm even if not on their person during the "furtherance of the crime". Yes, there are people who are sitting in prison longer than they should be because they had legally owned firearms at their house while they were growing a plant.

That article you linked tries to paint an invalid picture of how prison populations are kept artificially high to protect the jobs and industries that surround correction institutions. There are union groups across different sectors that rally hard to ensure that humans are warehoused to pay the bills.

To illustrate how full the low/minimum prisons are with drug offenders your first day there everyone will greet you and if you're there for drug related crimes the second anyone hears "drug" they just wave their hand because they have heard the story so many times and there is almost never any variation. I'm not a drug offender, I was there for a computer-hacking related charge, but I basically got to the point where I could guess all the different elements of their story like how much they were getting paid per drug run (it seems to be about $2,000 per run for the low level mules, if anyone is curious)

>however those Low/Minimum security zones account for more than half of the entire federal population

OK, but your claim that the "vast majority" of people locked up are there "because some plant is illegal" is still not valid. It would only be true if you're looking at only the people in camp/low classifications, which is why I argue that your perception is skewed. In reality, a little less than half of people in the Federal system are there for drug-trafficking offenses.

>Also consider that there are inmates that didn't actually commit violent crimes that are labeled as such because they received gun enhancements

This is not true. A 922(g) or other gun crime or enhancement does not count as a violent crime, it's a public order offense.

>firearms at their house while they were growing a plant

You keep circling back to this "growing a plant" thing, do you have information on how many people are imprisoned on marijuana charges? From all the drug-traffickers I met in the federal system, none were there for marijuana offenses. Every drug-trafficker I met was there for methamphetamine, cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, or some combination thereof. Can you show some data on the breakdown of substance types that backs up your claim?

>That article you linked tries to paint an invalid picture of how prison populations are kept artificially high to protect the jobs and industries that surround correction institutions. There are union groups across different sectors that rally hard to ensure that humans are warehoused to pay the bills.

The article mentions public-sector employee unions being the ones with an interest in keeping prisons open and staffed, do you have examples of the union groups in different sectors that do so? It would seem to me that a union in a sector that doesn't rely cheap prison labor would have no interest in keeping those prisons open.

I'm not even disagreeing that the prison population should be reduced, but your numbers and assertions are wrong.

Is this actually reality in the US though? Pretty much everyone I’ve known who went to jail said you could just keep to yourself and you’d be fine. Most people in jail aren’t hardened criminals.

i've spent a night in the pokey once or twice, yeah, mostly people just want to be left alone (prison is different thing than jail though). It's a weird feeling when the door shuts and you know you can't get out. Most people are pretty quiet and just thinking about how bad they screwed up heh.

Depends on if it's jail or prison, and what level of security/crimes.

Jail is usually short term, so is less of a clique/gang issue (except some areas).

Right, but the folks I’ve talked to about it in a prison context basically said if you can stay away from the drugs / alcohol you won’t get caught up in the gang stuff. Most “prisons” in the US are minimum security prison camps; if you go to prison for DUI you’d almost certainly end up there. Most of the people there are non-violent offenders with short sentences.

The ones with the gang problems are maximum security, but unless you were involved with real serious shit (murder, armed robbery, rape, etc) you won’t end up there if you behave. This is discounting some of the racial bias however (if you’re black or Hispanic you’re much more likely to end up in high security prisons).

When I saw 'raped', there's also the story of Abner Luoima.

People should learn from made up stories?

Absolutely. Are you serious? Do you not learn anything from literature?

Yes I'm serious. Sure you can learn from made up stories if they reflect reality or are metaphors for it. But some exaggerated Hollywood story isn't go to teach you anything if it isn't grounded in reality.