The title of this article says it all, "Its been a long time coming." This is so true we have never had a president go into a prison and see what these inmates live in and hear their stories about what mistakes they took that landed them in the situation they are in. I imagine that was a little hard for him to see since he once was a young boy that made mistakes himself. However he did not end up where he visited. These are exact reasons we should reduce the size and stop sentencing inmates to so many years in prison for something that did not harm many lives. Like Obama said there are people that deserve to be in the prison so that we can keep our world safe but not everyone should be there. The visit that Obama had I think helped open his eyes and we will soon start to see a decrease in the size of prisons due to the visit he took. Green789
I agree with your whole comment. I am sure it was hard for him to visit the prison because at some part of his life that could have been him but he took the higher road in his life. I also agree strongly that those who belong in prison should stay in prison to keep out world a safer place for everyone else. -Barcelona789
I'm proud of President Obama for visiting the prison and experiencing for himself what life is like inside one. I'm also glad he recognizes that violent criminals deserve the longer sentences for the crimes they've committed, and that nonviolent offenders, specifically drug offenders, only turned to drugs because it was probably prevalent in their childhood and adolescence in their hometowns. I only hope that other politicians and public leaders follow the President's example and see for their self how damaging a mandatory sentence of 20 years or so is to a person who made a few mistakes in his life and is being severely punished for not even committing a violent crime like murder or arson. Flitzy789
Yes, personally I am very glad that he gave this speech within a prison to help show that he is willing and able to attack this issue head on. I also agree and really hope this pressure on decarceration continues on through the next president and other politicians in the future. Hopefully, it will make sure that we are doing everything we can to continue to keep pressure on this issue in full. -Pack789
Good for President Obama for taking the initiative to look into our jail system. However, I do not think that there is anything wrong with prisoners being two or three to a cell. Maybe I'm a little bit cynical, but I have had personal experience with conditions similar to these. I have never been to prison but I was in the military and I was deployed to parts of the world where there was no running water, no actual structure to protect us from the elements, no heating or cooling. I have absolutely no sympathy for those who have to share a room with another prisoner, maybe two. They know what they're doing is wrong; they can deal with the consequences of their actions. Although, there are definitely too many situations where the punishment far outweighs the crime and I do think that we need to reevaluate the sentencing of those cases. -NavyAME789
It is a good thing to see that as president, President Obama is doing something that no other president has done in the past and visited a prison. What I like best of this article over the others is that he seems to be more specific with the type of prisoners that should be helped to get out early and live better lives which is the young non-violent offenders. It would make good sense to help out non-violent offenders and not violent offenders because they for the most part have only hurt themselves and that’s something that can be more forgiving than someone who has harmed another person. The other thing is that President Obama is focusing more on the younger kids which is best because they are still young and can learn to live the right life and if we continue to help the youth then as time goes on hopefully we would start to filter that bad population out and have a less youth prison numbers. -Acerunner789
We should focus more on the non violent offenders and the young because it is much easier for the younger to change their ways than it will be for someone that has been doing the same thing for so long. I hope that we can have this be changed and the prisons start to decrease in size. Green789
The one thing that really stood out for me in the video was the statistic the President gives in the beginning. We make up 5% of the world population and 25% of the global inmate population. To me, this seems very overwhelming due to the fact that the U.S. is supposed to be "the greatest country on earth". I personally agree with the President in terms of decarceration. I also believe that we need to focus more on rehabilitation rather than incarceration when it comes to non-violent criminals. I am also glad to see that he gave this short speech within a prison to help show that he is willing to take the time to attack this issue rather than it just be "all talk". -Pack789
Honestly, I'm not sure why Obama is surprised by the way that the prisoners are living. Yeah, maybe nonviolent offenders are taking up space and causing an overpopulation, but we are trying to pass bills that cut the time in half or more. Obama reflects back to his childhood days when he was smoking week and trying cocaine thinking that could have been him. I grew up in a small town where everyone was smoking weed and doing cocaine and even to this day they are, but you have to decide who is worth the extra space in the cell. I would agree with Obama when he says, "What is normal is teenagers doing stupid things. What is normal is young people making mistakes." What happens when it becomes a lifestyle? When it doesn't become a mistake anymore? CSI789
Out of all three articles this article would have to be my favorite. I like this article the most because it goes into an actual prison and describes the cells and some of the conditions that the inmates go through. It shouldn't have taken this long for a President to visit a prison. It only makes sense that Obama was the first because after all his slogan is about making a change. This article has a lot of emotional appeal because Obama knows that even though some teenagers make mistakes they all do not turn out to be bad people when they grow up. This article brings up Obama and his drug instance a couple times through out the article but it also says that he took a different path for his life and went to Harvard Law School instead of going to prison not even once. If we keep throwing teenagers or first time offenders who commit a petty drug crime in prison they wont get a second chance to make a better life because they will always have that record that shows they had been to prison for drugs. I believe everyone deserves a second chance to a certain extent. -Barcelona789
I am glad he went to the prison to see what it is like behind walls. It seems that he was shocked that this type of environment was in this prisons. Yes, this article is going to make you emotional and that is what the writer was going for. I know that Obama has feeling for these teens because of his past but he did say one thing right. Teens make mistakes and I think they shouldn't be shipped of to prison because of one little mistake. I have a lot of friends that ran from the law because they wanted to have a good time. Some got away some got caught but the ones that got caught where lucky that the cops were relax and sent them off with a warning and didn't take to jail. With Obama supporting to release non violent inmates or cut the population of prison in half. He has to be on bored with changing some drug laws that I read in other articles.
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ReplyDeleteThe title of this article says it all, "Its been a long time coming." This is so true we have never had a president go into a prison and see what these inmates live in and hear their stories about what mistakes they took that landed them in the situation they are in. I imagine that was a little hard for him to see since he once was a young boy that made mistakes himself. However he did not end up where he visited. These are exact reasons we should reduce the size and stop sentencing inmates to so many years in prison for something that did not harm many lives. Like Obama said there are people that deserve to be in the prison so that we can keep our world safe but not everyone should be there. The visit that Obama had I think helped open his eyes and we will soon start to see a decrease in the size of prisons due to the visit he took. Green789
ReplyDeleteI agree with your whole comment. I am sure it was hard for him to visit the prison because at some part of his life that could have been him but he took the higher road in his life. I also agree strongly that those who belong in prison should stay in prison to keep out world a safer place for everyone else. -Barcelona789
DeleteI'm proud of President Obama for visiting the prison and experiencing for himself what life is like inside one. I'm also glad he recognizes that violent criminals deserve the longer sentences for the crimes they've committed, and that nonviolent offenders, specifically drug offenders, only turned to drugs because it was probably prevalent in their childhood and adolescence in their hometowns. I only hope that other politicians and public leaders follow the President's example and see for their self how damaging a mandatory sentence of 20 years or so is to a person who made a few mistakes in his life and is being severely punished for not even committing a violent crime like murder or arson. Flitzy789
ReplyDeleteYes, personally I am very glad that he gave this speech within a prison to help show that he is willing and able to attack this issue head on. I also agree and really hope this pressure on decarceration continues on through the next president and other politicians in the future. Hopefully, it will make sure that we are doing everything we can to continue to keep pressure on this issue in full. -Pack789
DeleteGood for President Obama for taking the initiative to look into our jail system. However, I do not think that there is anything wrong with prisoners being two or three to a cell. Maybe I'm a little bit cynical, but I have had personal experience with conditions similar to these. I have never been to prison but I was in the military and I was deployed to parts of the world where there was no running water, no actual structure to protect us from the elements, no heating or cooling. I have absolutely no sympathy for those who have to share a room with another prisoner, maybe two. They know what they're doing is wrong; they can deal with the consequences of their actions. Although, there are definitely too many situations where the punishment far outweighs the crime and I do think that we need to reevaluate the sentencing of those cases. -NavyAME789
ReplyDeleteIt is a good thing to see that as president, President Obama is doing something that no other president has done in the past and visited a prison. What I like best of this article over the others is that he seems to be more specific with the type of prisoners that should be helped to get out early and live better lives which is the young non-violent offenders. It would make good sense to help out non-violent offenders and not violent offenders because they for the most part have only hurt themselves and that’s something that can be more forgiving than someone who has harmed another person. The other thing is that President Obama is focusing more on the younger kids which is best because they are still young and can learn to live the right life and if we continue to help the youth then as time goes on hopefully we would start to filter that bad population out and have a less youth prison numbers. -Acerunner789
ReplyDeleteWe should focus more on the non violent offenders and the young because it is much easier for the younger to change their ways than it will be for someone that has been doing the same thing for so long. I hope that we can have this be changed and the prisons start to decrease in size. Green789
DeleteThe one thing that really stood out for me in the video was the statistic the President gives in the beginning. We make up 5% of the world population and 25% of the global inmate population. To me, this seems very overwhelming due to the fact that the U.S. is supposed to be "the greatest country on earth". I personally agree with the President in terms of decarceration. I also believe that we need to focus more on rehabilitation rather than incarceration when it comes to non-violent criminals. I am also glad to see that he gave this short speech within a prison to help show that he is willing to take the time to attack this issue rather than it just be "all talk". -Pack789
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I'm not sure why Obama is surprised by the way that the prisoners are living. Yeah, maybe nonviolent offenders are taking up space and causing an overpopulation, but we are trying to pass bills that cut the time in half or more. Obama reflects back to his childhood days when he was smoking week and trying cocaine thinking that could have been him. I grew up in a small town where everyone was smoking weed and doing cocaine and even to this day they are, but you have to decide who is worth the extra space in the cell. I would agree with Obama when he says, "What is normal is teenagers doing stupid things. What is normal is young people making mistakes." What happens when it becomes a lifestyle? When it doesn't become a mistake anymore? CSI789
ReplyDeleteOut of all three articles this article would have to be my favorite. I like this article the most because it goes into an actual prison and describes the cells and some of the conditions that the inmates go through. It shouldn't have taken this long for a President to visit a prison. It only makes sense that Obama was the first because after all his slogan is about making a change. This article has a lot of emotional appeal because Obama knows that even though some teenagers make mistakes they all do not turn out to be bad people when they grow up. This article brings up Obama and his drug instance a couple times through out the article but it also says that he took a different path for his life and went to Harvard Law School instead of going to prison not even once. If we keep throwing teenagers or first time offenders who commit a petty drug crime in prison they wont get a second chance to make a better life because they will always have that record that shows they had been to prison for drugs. I believe everyone deserves a second chance to a certain extent.
ReplyDelete-Barcelona789
I am glad he went to the prison to see what it is like behind walls. It seems that he was shocked that this type of environment was in this prisons. Yes, this article is going to make you emotional and that is what the writer was going for. I know that Obama has feeling for these teens because of his past but he did say one thing right. Teens make mistakes and I think they shouldn't be shipped of to prison because of one little mistake. I have a lot of friends that ran from the law because they wanted to have a good time. Some got away some got caught but the ones that got caught where lucky that the cops were relax and sent them off with a warning and didn't take to jail. With Obama supporting to release non violent inmates or cut the population of prison in half. He has to be on bored with changing some drug laws that I read in other articles.
ReplyDeletePhenom789
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