SWA #3

Colby Carter

English 102-111

January 23, 2012

SWA #3

The argument in the article in Carolina Reader about the Prison System states that the US has more prisoners than any other country, even though our population is not the highest. It also states that the majority of the prisoners in the US are non-violent offenders. I found through my research that the conditions of the prisons are not humain, the article also states that while the judges give a sentencing, they do not state or possibly realize what else that includes. Such as rape, STD's, isolations, and sometimes torture. Something else that I learned was that the US inmate population has more than tripled in the past thirty years, but the money spent on the prisons has barely increased, with more prisoners, more money should be spent to take care of them. While they have obviously done something wrong and bad enough to land them in prison, they still should be able to have a safe time while in prison. As of 2009 1 in every 31 adults are in the US prison system, which makes that 7.3 million Americans are behind bars. I learned that African Americans are four times more likely to be under prison control than whites are. A crime is a crime, no matter the race of the offender and I think that people should be judged on their crime and not their race.

The Writing Arguments picture that I chose was at the bottom of page 9. It shows a family with a lot of suitcases and the fact that airlines now charge fifteen dollars a bag, the picture next to it shows their solution, wearing their clothes. This picture struck a cord with me because I have a family of five and we travel a lot. I have already been on an international flight this year and when preparing for a trip our luggage is always the huge problem. Everyone can only have one carry-on and can only check one bag. Not only that, but your checked bag can not exceed fifty pounds without paying another fee and your carry-on bag has to be under certain height and width requirements. Also you have to deal with the problem of hoping that there is room in the overhead bins for your carry-ons, because as we all know this is not always the case. The picture addresses the issue and also pokes fun at how silly it is that people have to make such a big deal out of it.