^ that is absolutely correct re: the American prison system. It's a disgrace. Not long ago a young woman in my home state died in her jail cell from severe dehydration while going through heroin withdrawal. The other prisoners who were with her tried to get the guards to help her but they did nothing. That was one of the most horrifying stories I'd read in a long time. And you can find many, many other stories of people left to rot in similar circumstances within the prison system nationwide.
But, on the other hand, I feel that the difference is this: in America the situation is looking noticeably better, in regards to criminal justice reform. Criminal justice/prison reform dovetails nicely with drug war reform and anti-police brutality campaigns, etc. It's an ascendant social movement, in my opinion...the people who are involved in the activist work are emboldened and on the offensive, they are no longer relegated to the farthest fringes of political life like they were just 20 years ago. Hell, in 2010 I remember having a conversation with a buddy in which we agreed that marijuana would never become legalized within our lifetimes...our logic then was name one country where weed is legal? As far as I knew weed was only decriminalized in nations with the most progressive policies, like the Netherlands
Now look where we are in regards to marijuana reform. When California and Massachusetts and other states legalize this Tuesday, the house of cards that was teetering will collapse. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it doesn't become easily accessible for a majority of the US population & removed from schedule 1 federally within 5 or 10 years. Pro-legalization beliefs in the 90's were fringe beliefs; now they're the mainstream. Even views on harder drugs have softened...the "opioid crisis", for example...the addicts in this current drug story craze have been portrayed more humanely and with more compassion than addicts in former eras, plus you hear a lot more rhetoric regarding it being fundamentally a public health concern rather than a strictly criminal justice issue. I'm old enough to remember the coverage of victims in the "meth crisis" and the "crack crisis" before that, and yeah...the less said about the media coverage regarding those things, the better.
The idea of the modern drug war as a social injustice that persists in the modern day is becoming more accepted in the body politic. I mean even the president acknowledges it at this point. And drug law reform & prison reform are obviously very intertwined issues. On the grassroots level you have several notable prison strikes in the last decade, sometimes involving simultaneous strikes in multiple facilities across multiple states, with assistance from advocacy groups outside the prisons themselves to coordinate.
I'm cautiously optimistic because I can't rule out the pro-drug war reactionaries scoring some kind of surprise victory, but drug law reform/criminal justice reform is one political issue that I am actually optimistic on, in the US political system. Probably the only issue actually, LOL. If trends continue I think we'll see more non-violent offenders being released from prison, more money getting cut from interdiction budgets, more weed being legal, more criminal records expunged etc. Good things! And that's why I think that the USA is one of the more interesting current examples of progressive reform (ironic considering that it has been the vanguard of repression against drugs both at home & abroad for so long)
