The prison system is filled with people from diverse backgrounds and lifestyles. People entering the system don't know who they will meet while they are there. Inmates who are members of various gangs rub shoulders with inmates who may suffer from mental illnesses, sex offenders and minors have the opportunity to share the same cell. Although there are systems and policies in place that sometimes help protect individual prisoners, those same systems and policies can create an environment that is harmful to prisoners. These people entering the prison system must give up many rights which, during the years they are incarcerated, will be controlled by directors and guards, but the same inalienable rights with which they were born are not given up, and any system or policy that denies them then these rights are abusive. There are ways to improve the prison system that allow people who enter it to retain important rights while paying their debt to society. It is first worth mentioning that prisons were created to be a rehabilitation center as well as a punitive organization. While prisons have been successful in punishing people for their crimes, they have been less likely to rehabilitate those people. For example, many prisoners who suffer from mental illnesses or substance abuse at the time of their incarceration receive minimal treatment for their illnesses, even if the illness helped them to be incarcerated. Except for life-threatening illnesses, prisoners typically wait weeks to receive significant care from hospital doctors, meaning daily treatments could cure many prisoners; problems are not provided (Clark, 2010). Prisoners 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, RL (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). 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=1698835704& _rer unOrigin+google&_acct=C000050221&_version = 1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=dde4f4900bc89427c46644b93dfe841c&searchtype=a