With the First Step Act signed into law, President Trump has set a new direction for America’s federal criminal justice system. Yet even with this significant achievement, crucial aspects of the system, especially our jails and prisons, are still far from ideal.

Life in prisons creates extreme and unnecessary hardships for inmates and the guards who watch them. For inmates, persistent degradation has led to the constant threat of violent altercations during incarceration and chronic rates of recidivism. For correctional professionals, their training aids them in the use of surveillance to monitor the inmate population but fails to equip them with the tools needed to positively interact with inmates. Given that 95 percent of inmates will ultimately re-enter our communities, the first step at alleviating this needless suffering must be to stop stripping inmates (and, in turn, correctional staff) of their dignity behind bars.