America’s prison system is becoming more inhumane

THE INMATES at Logan Correctional Centre, a women’s prison in rural Illinois, have to endure a lot. The kitchens are infested with cockroaches. The ceilings are crumbling. Many of the buildings are full of black mould. The showers and toilets often break down, and the plumbing occasionally backs up, pumping sewage onto the floors. According to Lauren Stumblingbear, a 36-year-old former inmate who was released last July after serving nearly a decade for taking part in an armed robbery, perhaps craziest of all were the raccoons. The critters were living in the housing unit of the prison, she says. “They would come down through holes in the ceiling.”