The prison system is full of people from different backgrounds and lifestyles. People who enter the system without knowing who they will encounter while they are there. Prisoners who belong to different gangs are mixed with prisoners who may suffer from mental illnesses, sex offenders and minors are allowed to share the same cell. While there are systems and policies that sometimes help protect each inmate, the same systems and policies can create a harmful environment for inmates. These people enter the prison system having to give up many rights which for the years they are incarcerated will be controlled by officers and guards, however the same inalienable rights they were born with are not given up, and any system or policy that denies these rights then is abusive. There are ways to improve the prison system that allows people who enter it to maintain important rights while paying their debt to society. It must first be said that prisons were created to be rehabilitative facilities as well as a punitive organization. While prisons have succeeded in punishing people for their crimes, they have less often succeeded in rehabilitating them. For example, many prisoners who suffer from mental illness or drug addiction while incarcerated receive minimal treatment for their illnesses, despite the fact that the illness helped land them in prison. Except for life-threatening illnesses, prisoners typically wait weeks to receive major care from doctors at hospitals, meaning daily treatments could resolve many of the prisoners; problems are not provided (Clark, 2010). Inmates with mental or other illnesses...... middle of document...... Reference page1) Berg, MT & DeLisi, M. (2006) http://www.soc.iastate.edu/staff/ delisi /Melting%20Pot%20JCJ.pdf2) Blitz, C., Wolff, N., Shi, J. (2008). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/188092103) Clark, R.L. (2010) http://www.transformativestudies.org/wp-content/uploads/10.379tia.1937-0237.10027.pdf4) Ward S. (2009) http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ859468&ERICExtSeacrh_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ8594685) Winterdyk, J. & Ruddell, R. (2010). http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V75-506HOM3-12&_user=10&_coverDte=08%2F31%2F2010&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrld=169883570 4& _rerunOrigin+google&_acct=C000050221&_version = 1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=dde4f4900bc89427c46644b93dfe841c&searchtype=a