The House I Live in - Prison as a Chance or Isolation?

Hey everybody, 

It has been a long time...
Have you ever seen the movie "The House I Live in" made by Eugene Jarecki?
It is a, not really objective, documentation about the American prison system linked to the propaganda around the war against drugs. Jarecki clearly states his opinion about these topics in it, and wants to convince us of it to change something. 
I still wonder why he chose this title.

To be honest, I was never really interested in this topic, and don't know much about it. 
I never had too much contact with it.
However, what Jarecki presents in this movie, and how he does it, got me - in a very persuasive way. On one hand, it was really hard to figure out what his actual point was until the very end, or even after this. His movie covers so many different stories, characters, arguments, and perspectives that they are not easy to put together, or follow as a straight line, even if they lead into the same direction. On the other hand, this is one big strengths of this movie because Jarecki supports his main idea with information from personal, political, historical, statistical, and other examples and points of view.
You might ask, so what is his main argument? 
In my understanding of the movie, Jarecki mainly points out that the effects of the war on drugs harm more than help the society, and influence the prison system with a growing population. He claims that the war on drugs is an effective way to get rid of specific groups of people. Instead of preventing drug abuse, looking at the background of, and helping affected people or families, it only convicts them for relative small offenses, and sends them to prison. He identifies several populations that were or still are connected to certain drugs, and so became victims of the war on drugs over time, naming Chinese, Mexican, Black, and nowadays poor and gay White people. To be very provocative, he compares this to the process of the destruction of Jews during World War II. His explanations of the steps are very compelling and frightening if true.
The ones who profit are the prison and law enforcement system, whether public or private, producing jobs for whole cities, and making a lot of money, while the taxpayers are accounted. But the money isn't used well because prisoners are not (supposed to be) prepared for a resocialization. Anyway, spending the money for prevention or other forms of intervention would save it, and be much more efficient.
From what I know from Germany, which is unfortunately not much, officials lay a big focus on resocialization. There are two forms of imprisonments, in an open or closed prison, with different rights and routines. The open one provides resocialization more. There are possibilities of day parole and vacation. Prisoners work inside the prison when it's a closed one, or outside if it's open. They can get an education, and are engaged in a lot of activities. Contact to family and friends as outside resources is very important. A lot of professionals work inside on preparing the prisoners for a life outside (Böhnke & Heidenreich, 2014). Lots of people are only shortly in prison. But that doesn't mean that this it good, nor that the system with its goals really works. As in the United States, there is a high risk of recidivism in Germany. There are a lot of things happening inside that not many people know of, like secret hierarchies, gangs, a black market of drugs, cigarettes, and coffee, horrible conditions, and a lot of violence. It is all about power. When people come out of jail, it's often harder for them to get back into society than before (Schulz, 2013). I never heard of a connection between a campaign of a war against drugs and the prison system in Germany. I think there is a lot of prevention and social work going on. But probably most Americans haven't heard about that, too, so that doesn't prove anything. As I said, a lot happens unknown of.

What remains? Whether we believe in all Jarecki says, or what happens in prisons, we should stay aware, and think about it.
Is this a society we want to live in? (How) Can we change it?
What do you think about this topic?
I would love to hear from you.

Yours,
GermanGirl.115

References:
Böhnke, A., & Heidenreich, B. (2014). Gefängnis – Leben hinter Gittern. Planet Wissen. Retrieved from http://www.planet-wissen.de/politik_geschichte/verbrechen/gefaengnis/

Jarecki, E. & Shopsin, M. (Producer), & Jarecki, E. (Director). (October 5, 2012). The House I Live in [Motion Picture]. United States: Cinetic.
Schulz, B. (2013). Gefängnisalltag in Deutschland: Weggesperrt und vergessen. Spiegel online, 2013(2). Retrieved from http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/gefaengnis-in-deutschland-ex-gefangener-erzaehlt-vom-alltag-in-haft-a-869733.html