Today I attended Criminal (In)Justice: How Mass Incarceration Disrupts Families and Communities. The panelists all agree that mass incarceration is a cycle. The process is mass produced and millions of Americans have a felony level crime listed on their record. It is unfortunate that such a mass number of Americans are being incarcerated, but what is even worse than that is the effects of mass incarceration. That individual loses out on his or her life, loses touch with his or her family, and have difficulties rejoining civilization after the term is served. Mass incarceration is viewed almost as a business in the current day because prisons receive money based off of how many inmates it has in occupation. This is incredibly disheartening because it causes the entire system to be unjust. The panelists are passionate about controlling what they can, which is focusing on the rehabilitation efforts for when inmates are finally released. The panelists spoke about programs that begin the rehabilitation efforts immediately when the inmates enter prison. This is particularly beneficial because there is no time wasted, and the inmates can rather spend every single day combatting their incarceration, so they come out better after serving their term. This concept particularly stuck with me because I love the proactive efforts that are being made and the concept of starting rehabilitation efforts immediately once inmates enter prison. They are truly making the most of the incarceration, so they do not appear “behind” once they enter society after their term is served. This was one aspect of mass incarceration that I was not aware of and this helps me better understand the actions that can be taken, and the actions that the panelists today were particularly passionate about.