Ys. The use of the courts and prisons as tools to quell dissent and maintain power for a minority prohibits efforts to reform prisons. To effect meaningful prison reform we must address the use of courts as weapons to silence political rivals. We should also be taking a hard look at selective enforcement, and lack of law enforcement action against criminal acts perpetrated by wealthy people. Steps like drug decriminalization, free career training/college programs for everyone, and quality rehabilitation are necessary to these ends but do nothing to right the generational injustices afflicted on the families caught up in the prison system.