By: Scott Ervin E-mail: ervinscott@hotmail.com "The Prison Alternative" America has to wake up and realize that the current structure of our penal system is failing terribly. Take a group of people, strip them of possessions and privacy, expose them to constant threats of violence, overcrowd their cell-block, deprive them of meaningful work, and the result is an embittered underclass more intent on getting even with society than contributing to it. There is a better way to deal with crime and punishment in America. Americans pay too much money for prisons to fail so badly. Like many big government solutions, prisons are e