What problems do America's prisons face? New Jim Crow / Michelle Alexander ; Too many prison inmates? It's not so simple / Morris B. Hoffman ; Prison system is broken because of the war on drugs / Brian Mann ; Scariest explanation for America's vast prison population : we want it that way / Jakub Wrzesniewski ; Private prison system is dysfunctional and cruel / Brian Magee ; Private prisons are beneficial / Erwin A. Blackstone and Simon Hakim -- Who is in America's prisons? African Americans are overrepresented in prisons / Rina Palta ; African American incarceration rate is the result of African American crime / Jason L. Riley ; Female prisoners should receive gender-specific attention / Megan Quattlebaum ; We should stop putting women in jail. For anything / Patricia O'Brien ; Juvenile detention system is broken / Sara Mayeux ; Juvenile detention can be effective / James Swift -- Are prisoners treated humanely? Solitary confinement is torture-- and morally wrong / Heather Rice ; Yes, some inmates still deserve solitary confinement / Greg Dobbs ; Food as punishment : giving U.S. inmates 'the loaf' persists / Eliza Barclay ; Prisoner disenfranchisement is wrong and dangerous / Jonathan Purtle ; Prisoner disenfranchisement should not be abandoned / Hans A. von Spakovsky -- Do prison alternatives work? Drug courts are not a good alternative for drug offenders / Margaret Dooley-Sammuli and Nastassia Walsh ; Drug courts are a good alternative for drug offenders / Jessica Huseman ; Electronic monitoring is an effective alternative to incarceration / Dylan Matthews ; Electronic monitoring is not an effective alternative to incarceration / James Kilgore ; Public shaming is a good substitute for imprisonment / Brian Hampel ; Public shaming is not a good substitute for imprisonment / David M. Reutter.