Prisons for ProfitWhen the average person thinks of a prison, what is often the thought that comes to mind? Perhaps an environment of reform is intended, or perhaps a place of punishment. Perhaps some see them as modern leper colonies, where countries send their undesirables. Prisons may be all of these things, or they may be none. With these ambiguities in the general definition of prison it is easy to say that the ordinary person cannot have a real critical perspective on what it really is. That said, if the average person were presented with Angela Davis' perspective, and the perspective of many scholars, they might be shocked to learn what prisons really are. This perspective presents prisons as a profitable industrial complex much like the military industrial complex. As in the military industrial complex, in the “prison industrial complex,” investors make large amounts of money off the backs of incarcerated inmates. It is interesting to note how similar these two systems are, upon closer inspection; it seems to me that one may have developed from the other. On the other hand, the prison industrial complex also seems to have a correlation with the globalization of work; which suggests that here too one contributed to the development of the other. However, where the prison industrial complex has its roots is not as big an issue as the simple question of the morality of the practice. A person can know the history of the problem as much as they want, but the important issue is to address it. When a person begins to face a problem, he always has to start somewhere. In this case, it's best to start by defining the prison industry itself. The prison industry... middle of paper... children under the carpet and completely ignore their existence in everyday life. Much is the same regarding private wars and the inner workings of the corporations that finance them. Rather than focus on these important issues, people live their lives in a daze. It is important that those who are aware of these things inform those who are not to make everyone aware of the seriousness of these topics. Only by making these problems public can we hope for substantial change. My hope is that people will move away from the relatively insignificant trivialities they focus on in their daily lives and instead turn their attention to topics more worthy of their attention. Until the time comes when people do, I will do my part to inform those I can, in the hopes that it will spark some kind of interest in them to look into these issues as well..