Assignment Task: Bring the following passage to life with vivid adjectives and adverbs
I have always cherished freedom as the heart and soul of our identity as a nation. However the sprawling network of private prisons, correctional facilities, and industries profiting from incarceration has cast a dark shadow over the freedoms we hold dear. Instead of using funds to help ex-inmates with education, rehabilitation, or mental health services, the U.S. government continues to invest in building more prisons. This focus on mass incarceration rather than rehabilitation is driven by the fact that the prison system is highly profitable for private companies that build and manage prisons. The Brennan Center for Justice reports that these companies have powerful political connections and lobby for policies that encourage more imprisonment because it brings in more money. The Prison-Industrial Complex pushes for policies that favor excessively long sentences for non-violent offenders, rather than addressing the underlying social problems-poverty, addiction, and mental health issues-that often lead to crime.
This system thrives on non-violent offenders, who are significantly cheaper to house and require minimal supervision. It's extremely profitable, with each inmate generating substantial daily income. With only one guard needed to oversee 400 non-violent inmates, it becomes a highly lucrative business to earn money off each day we are there. This profit-driven approach results in the incarceration of countless nonviolent offenders who are denied the essential treatment for their mental health or addiction while behind bars, thereby perpetuating vicious cycles of recidivism rather than tackling the underlying causes.