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“They are trying to build a prison for you and me to live in, another prison system for you and me…,” so screams Serj from the activist band System of a Down. Protesting the limitations that society places on the individual, they additionally illuminate yet another of society’s ills: many think the answer to crime lies in more prisons and more stringent punishment. Failing to realize the futility, many campaign for harsher sentencing. The recent trend toward tougher laws—putting more criminals behind bars for longer periods of time—is augmented by the public’s support of many states’ and federal government’s utilization of the “three strikes” laws that automatically impose life sentences on three time felons (Wimmsatt 12). And while politicians spout pie crust promises of decreasing the crime rate, human beings are beings mentally and emotionally warped from this grave, inhumane injustice. The background of prisons details a long history of injustice on both sides of the bars. Crucial evidence points to the necessity for an examination of some critical issues: the effectiveness of prisons, the effects on those involved, the question of inmate labor, and alternatives to prison. “Our nation’s m