^{Photo by Felipe Vallin}

With the help of cellphone video footage and police bodycams, ironically, police brutality can now be witnessed by the public. However, the kind of violence we are aware of but are not allowed to see is the one behind bars.

Prisoners still experience excessive abuse from the system that is blatantly unconstitutional. There may be security cameras that document everything that takes place, even behind bars, but there are instances where the prison system is hand in hand with covering it up. It is to avoid raising suspicion and not catch public attention.

The highest priority the justice system must take into account is the mass incarceration that overwhelms every US prison by the growing population. It often causes neglect towards the rules and lets violence take over. Reducing such numbers is a long shot, given that the United States is the number one incarcerator in the world.

Behind the scenes and within the bars

According to Robert A. Ferguson, a late Columbia Law School professor, the suffering of those imprisoned was intricately fabricated to happen in a place where it’s out of sight. The attorney often witnesses or receives testimony from inmates about the atrocities committed toward all prisoners within the facility.

For example, correctional officers rarely try to de-escalate intense occurrences in male prisons. It propagates a culture of violence even though the same acts became why they got there in the first place.

It took a lot of time and effort for some officials to care and take action. They may have visited prisons, interviewed about prison life, and gone through archives of different testimonies, documents, emails, videos, and medical records. They displayed concrete evidence of unconstitutional state violence against prisoners.

There was an instance where an inmate stuck his tongue out toward a sergeant. In response, the sergeant punched the prisoner, abusing his authority to incite violence against a handcuffed inmate. In a correctional facility in Alabama, officers use chemical spray on prisoners within their holding cells.

The rampant violence inside prisons

It is a fact that violence is never part of a just sentence, and there are safety nets even for those who are convicted of various offenses. There are strict safety standards for multiple aspects of society. However, such measures are inconsistent and hardly applied in the prison system.

The following factors are recipes for prison violence:

• Overcrowding
• Lack of training among the staff
• Prolonged solitary confinement
• Loose facilities
• Policies that separate families
• Mistreating mentally ill patients
• Disrespect between prisoners and the staff
• Abuse of authority and lack of accountability for wardens

With that said, violence indeed takes place, along with the ones above who should stop it. Instead, they are enabling, encouraging, and even—other violent experiences like gang rape and violence, plus physical, verbal, and psychological abuse from officers.

The sad part is there’s no formal way to address any of the issues mentioned. They can take no action because inmates who file complaints are threatened or mistreated by staff members and bribed fellow inmates.

The prison system has no absolute way of controlling such violence from happening. And even though the public is aware, only a tiny fraction of the actual atrocities are known since things remain under wraps.

Issues and possible remedies to prison violence

There’s a call for further research that mainly deals with prison violence. The staggering numbers over time should raise concern for those unassuming about it. Policy changes are also necessary, which may not curb the growth immediately, but it still helps even for a bit.

Another recommendation is to train correctional staff to assess those inmates who are vulnerable to being victimized by trauma behind bars. Gender-specific violence is rampant, especially towards women, the youth, and the LGBTQ+; not even people with disabilities and people of color are spared. You can find more detailed accounts of the most violent man in Real Prison Real Freedom book.

Correctional healthcare is scarce within the facilities, and there must be an expansion so that those who still continually experience harm inside prisons can access medical attention. And it may be valuable to prioritize those who need protection from such abuses, and a more significant issue needs to be addressed.

Ultimately, the government still needs to deal with mass incarceration and reduce the prison population all over the US. The adverse effects of such overcrowding lead to chronic trauma among prisoners, even after they get released. That can still lead them to recidivism. The system has a long way to reduce violence, but gradual change is possible.