Thursday’s guest speaker, Dr. Gerald Stahler, talked to us about the prison systems. He teaches a class within the prison and gets to see first hand experience the prison and with the inmates. It was interesting to hear about our prisons systems from this unique perspective because I feel like not many people get to come in and out of prisons like that and get that kind of insight.

The statistics he told us also disappointed me but did not surprise me. He talked about how the US is leading in people not only in incarcerated but the rate of incarceration as well. Something else that shocked me was how the inmates have to pay for a lot of stuff and if you cannot afford it you are out of luck. It was kind of a moment where you realize just how bad our prison systems actually are and how badly we need reform. I also really admire how he shared such a personal and hard story with us because it shows you how people are affected, but you could never know how is actually affected.