U.S. Prison System Unmasked as ‘Theater of Hell’

British journalist Alexander Reynolds went undercover at some of America’s toughest prisons and exposes his grim findings about the system also detailed in his book Convict Land: Undercover in America’s Jails.

Reynolds says he was appalled by the wide range of problems in prisons and ultimately found his undercover visits a “heartbreaking” experience. “What I encountered was a theater of hell, really,” he said. “I encountered the very worst people and went into these institutions which were very complete and austere.”

He discovered the harsh reality that the U.S. prison system contains way more ethnic minorities than whites and there is a rapidly aging population behind bars. He also found there are vast problems with many people suffering from alcohol and drug problems who “were not best served” by jail.

When asked about the opinion of many Americans that conditions should remain poor in prisons because those locked up are there to be punished, Reynolds said he doesn’t buy into the idea.

“No, I think people who think that way are moral imbeciles. We have a responsibility as a society to cure people of their problems, whatever their problems are.” He said one problem is that rehabilitation programs are often cut back or eliminated in prisons because politicians and local officials have to appear tough on crime.

He also points out that the criminal justice system is very expensive, costing about $80 billion a year, and holding about one percent of Americans behind bars. “It costs too much and the system doesn’t seem to work.”

Statistics reveal that within 3-4 years of getting released, about one-third of inmates end up returning to prison. Reynolds says the system is trapped in a cycle of punishment and rehabilitation and remains very similar to the Victorian model it was originally based on.

He also speaks about the unfortunate pipeline for many people who go directly from school to prison and draws on his own experience attending a state school in London, England.

“When you go to school to learn English, French, math, history or whatever, you don’t expect to be told that you’re going to be a criminal and that you’re not going to have a job at the end of it. But it was almost treated like a certainty.”

He blames a lot of teachers for this problem because he says they are the first authority figures young people deal with before the police.

A lot of the prisoners he met said they first turned to crime because they were just extremely bored and didn’t know what else to do with their lives. But he added, “Once you break the law, you can get trapped in the system and your behavior is judged forever.”

Reynolds also speaks about the dangerous nature of undercover work, saying the most important skills are good communication skills, being very sure of yourself and always sticking to your story. “The most important thing is, with any cover story, it must be simple and you must stick to the cover story, and you must never, ever break it.”

For one of his cover stories at a prison in Nebraska he pretended he was convicted of espionage and the other inmates bought it.

“The most important thing was the story, the story you have. You’re not going in there on a James Bond ego trip. You’ve got to be more like John Drake (Danger Man). He’s a better role model to follow for undercover work than James Bond.”

Another one of his cover stories had to do with him getting picked up for driving on the wrong side of the road – perfect for someone from the U.K. - and being caught with methamphetamine.

He also discusses efforts in some areas to privatize prisons, but said the idea has already been abandoned in many cases and he believes it’s better if jails are run by the government.