“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” (US Const. amend XIII, sec.3.) The prison conditions in the United States today violate the Eighth Amendment proposed by congress in 1789.It may have been written in 1789, but it is a timeless policy our country should value. Our country was built on a few Christian values, which are known to have caring characteristics. As stated in the book of Mark, “…Love your neighbor as yourself…” (King James Bible, Mark 12:31) Our neighbors may be convicted felons, but in God’s eyes we are to love them. Our country does not need to dismiss what convicts have done, but we do not need to treat them as disposable or in inhumane ways. Mass incarceration has affected our entire country in an unfavorable way. It has left children with one or no parents, caused overcrowding in our prisons, created unspeakable conditions for prisoners, and has a large negative effect on our country’s debt. One of the many listed problems mass incarceration boils down to is the poor conditions for prisoners due to overcrowding in prisons. It does not only effect the prisoners or the employees of the prisons, but it affects the general public as well. When prisoners are released with poor health, viruses are passed along to our communities. Some people may argue that prisoners do not deserve to live in the same well-kept, comfortable conditions as law-abiding, tax paying citizens, but where do we draw the line? There are multiple articles that reinforce the fact that prisons are unsafe and unjust, even for a felon. The cruel and unusual punishment law is inforce for a reason, and the United States may need a reminder of the reasoning behind that