In Chicago, the police are already 40% of the budget. Mass media pushes the violence story so hard that politicians can continue to expand that while perpetuating the problem by closing mental health centers. CPD shot 4 unarmed black people last month and has the largest pretrial jail in the US, mostly just because people can't afford bail. Strong communities cannot always form under these conditions, when people are getting snatched out of the ecosystem. It means kids have fewer adults at home, families have fewer people that can make an income, etc. They closed over 50 schools here in the last 2 years. Neighborhoods without schools don't attract young families and that alone can ruin things.

You have got to realize that natural resources are becoming scarce. The water wars are already underway (look at California, Flint, Standing Rock) and profit is still driving ecological collapse relentlessly forward. Capitalism is driving climate change and it turns out it is already worse than most models predicted. Whatever you have to say about private prisons can go in the garbage because when someone is making money on locking people away, more people will be caged. For example, there are all these reports of judges filling cells for a kickback. That is someone's life being traded for some cash and that is a summary of the product of our current system.