Stephan:   The American Gulag, along with the U.S. illness profit system, the failure of public education, wealth inequality, the nation's paltry social safety net, college student debt, and the utter failure to address climate change in a meaningful way, collectively stand as evil beacons on America's path to social failure, the loss of democracy, and violence. We have slightly less than 5 per cent of the world's population and 25 percent of the world's prisoners. We lead China, North Korea, you name it, in the warehousing of human beings. The Gulag has turned our police into thugs, it defines the promotion and careers of prosecutors and judges, and it destroys families and communities in a manner unmatched by any other country in the world. It is disgustingly biased racially, and once a man or woman, or child, is in its grasp it shapes the rest of their lives. Is there no other way to run a prison system? Of course there is, and here is one example of how it can and should be done.