Paragraph Development Step 5:

Using all of the information you have developed so far, you will now begin to draft your
paragraphs. You will need to go back to your brainstorming to find examples that help illustrate
your main points in the paragraph. You will then repeat the process for all of the topic
sentences you created.

Topic sentence 1: Although several people argue placing criminals in prisons reduces crime,
doing so actually increases it.

Main point 1: By simply placing criminals in prison, we are not helping these individuals become
better people so that they do not repeat these crimes, or other crimes, after they are released
from prison.

First example for main point 1: As of right now, prisons contain very little reform programs, if
any at all; most of which only consist of support groups of other prisoners.

Second example for main point 1: In a research project on the psychological effects of prison
confinement, filmmaker James Burns found that isolation and imprisonment, such as in
instances of solitary confinement, can harbor feelings of depression and anger and can even
turn one against themselves.

Main point 2: Prisoners spend 24 hours a day in a facility that only increases their anger.

First example for main point 2: prisoners are surrounded by influences that are the factors they
are supposed to be veering away from, only discouraging them from seeking help.

Second example for main point 2: Many prisoners experience abuse from guards which also
discourages them from improving.

Main point 3: Once released from prison, many former convicts find it difficult to return to
society as a normal citizen, finding it difficult to have a sense of financial security, and often
resort back to crime as a seemingly only option.

First example for main point 3: Most employers require job applicants to state if they have
committed any felonies; this often dramatically decreases any former convicts chance of being
hired at even the simplest of jobs.

Second example for main point 3: Parole agencies often times do not offer help to criminals but
set them up for failure with harsh regulations that prisoners have not been offered help on how
to follow them.
Topic sentence 2: While some people argue against more funding of prisons, they should be
focusing on the bigger issue of how this money is being used.

Main point 1: Although the government spends an immense amount of federal funding on
prisons, the incarceration rate in America continues its skyrocketing assent.

First example for main point 1: According to the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution,
the government spends nearly $80 billion a year on prisons each year.

Second example for main point 1: The Washington Post reports that the prison population has
nearly quadrupled in the past forty years, calling for more federal funding to prisons.

Main point 2: Despite this massive budget on prisons, scarcely any mandatory reform programs
exist within prisons.

First example for main point 2: One of the only forms of prisoner reform includes support
programs consisting of other prisoners who want to change.

Second example for main point 2: Psychologists are one of the only forms of outside support for
prisoners but even they answer to the warden.

Main point 3: Funding should be spent on programs that teach criminals how to adapt to
modern society and how to live a life outside of prison without crime.

First example for main point 3: Many criminals are spent several years in prison, unaware of the
societal changes which have occurred since their arrest and have no clue how to adapt to this
new life of theres.
Second example for main point 3: After being locked up like animals in a prison for several years
with no guidance from reform, prisoners find it difficult to abide by parole regulations and
often end back up in prison for failure to abide by these rules.

Topic sentence 3: Despite the fact that the US is the leader of the free world, they hold the
title of having the largest incarceration rate in the world - and some people do not see this as
a problem.

Main point 1: __________________________________________________________________

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First example for main point 1:_____________________________________________________

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Second example for main point 1:__________________________________________________

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Main point 2: __________________________________________________________________

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First example for main point 2:_____________________________________________________

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Second example for main point 2:__________________________________________________

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Main point 3: __________________________________________________________________

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First example for main point 3:_____________________________________________________

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Second example for main point 3:__________________________________________________

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