I went to prison the other day

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Yes, I went to prison the other day. I do it often as a speaker in a program called Victim Impact. Never, as long as I live will I understand how anyone can return to prison after being released the first time. The sound those doors make when the clang shut behind you, even when you know that it is just for two hours, well it makes my stomach hurt. So the prison I spoke at the other day is a minimum security state prison. It use to be a medical care and geriatric facility but it has since been converted. Still has one unit for medical and geriatric but the remainder is for those offenders who have been deemed "low risk" or have less than 5 years remaining on their sentence. The Victim Impact program is a volunteer program for those that speak. There is only two criteria, one you have to be either a first person victim of violent crime and two you have to be strong enough to talk about it. Most people who speak on in the program are second person victims, meaning that a family member was the victim rather than they themselves being the victim. I am one of the rare ones, I was the victim. We have another group of speakers who are the victims of drunk drivers who I often speak on panels with. The offenders who participate in the program must make a request through the social worker or chaplin in charge. It is a six week program and the Victim Impact is the last week of the program. The participants do not get yellow stars in their prison jackets for their participation, but hopefully they learn something about empathy and humanity. I have been speaking for 3 years now and it never gets easier. I speak in Federal, State, and Juvenile facilities. The other day was particularly difficult for me as one of my personal offenders was up for parole. I didn't really have an axe to grind but the discussions certainly brought home to me how much being a victim of violent crime affects my life even now, 16 years later. So as I walked into the room it was a microcosm of society. There were 48 men seated already. Clearly aligned. In one corner I had the White Supremist, obvious by their tats. In the other corner I had the Black Islamics also obvious by their skull caps and beards. In the back center I had a few Hispanic gangbangers and closer to the front a few Black gangbangers. Scattered throughout the rest of the room were the remainder of the participants white, black, hispanic, asian, and other. Don't get me wrong there was no obvious tensions just obvious divisions or groupings. After I gave my "speech" there was a lively discussion in which many of the men participated. While they didn't always like my answers they got that I wasn't there to make them feel good but rather to make them think. I pointed out to them that they were divided by their affiliations and the color of their skin and since the crime against me was a racial hate crime they were in fact perpetuating the very thing that created the problem in the first place. That comment created some thoughtful comments. I do have a point to this little rant and would love some feedback and thoughts. What do you think can be done within the prison system to manage or eliminate the "racial" affiliations? Can there be anything done? What I see in the prisons is an escalation of what is on the streets and in our public schools today. What are your thoughts on this?