June 9, 2026: The Prison System and the War on Drugs

While jails came to the 13 colonies from England as places of short-term confinement prior to capital punishment or release.  At the urging of Quakers, prisons were established to replace corporal and capital punishment with confinement, rehabilitation and release.  

However, by the 1930s, prisons became institutionalized and sentenced given to meet the severity of crimes and risk levels if/when released.  The prison population increased significantly when the USA passed 1970 Controlled Substances Act and scheduled drugs such as marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and opium based upon their addictive nature and medicinal benefits.  This War on Drugs became a war on people, particularly poor people of color.  Guidelines for prison sentences for manufacture, sale, possession and use of scheduled substances were harsh, including life sentences in California for 3 drug convictions.

A drug policy reform movement, based upon harm reduction and research regarding the addictive nature of drugs and their medicinal use have had an impact on the legality of marijuana for medicinal and recreational use and sentencing guidelines have become less harsh, however the war on drugs goes on, while its victims languish in public and for-profit prisons.