There is a humanitarian crisis in our nation’s prisons and jails. Many Americans likely don’t know or care about this crisis, but they should. A recent report showed that half of all American adults has had an immediate family member serve time in prison or jail. And the rest of us are paying for these facilities and the salaries of those who commit abuses. We can’t afford to look away anymore, because the people we’re ignoring are our friends, neighbors, and families.

Every day there’s another story. In Alabama, the Justice Department recently concluded that the level of violence, sexual abuse, and weapons in that state’s prisons has created conditions that violate the Constitution. Arizona’s governor was forced to convene a task force to determine why broken cell locks, which led to the death of a state prisoner and assaults on corrections officers, were neglected for years.