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inmates are not forced to live in squalid , subhuman conditions. This is primarilybecause of two things many others lack. First, the United States has had a stable, democratic government for hundreds of years. Because there is no open warfare over who controls the government, there are fewer political prisoners and less hatred toward the government’s op- position. That reflection is similarly true for prison sys- tems around the world, for better or for worse. Around the world, the conditions in which a prisoner lives mirrors just how stable or unstable the government of the country where the pris- oner is incarcerated. There is a lot of political unrest around the world. This re- sults in horrifying peniten- tiaries in every corner of the globe.

The guard tower seen from within the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, LA.

The American Prison System

An overview of the controversial conditions and sentences imposed on inmates.

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the prison System