United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and a corrupt and inhumane prison system. For example a person who has been recently released from prison is ineligible for welfare. they are not eligible for subsidized housing, they can’t find a job because of their Criminal record. Essentially, they come back to a society that is not prepared structurally or emotionally to welcome them back. most inmates who enter the system are likely to reenter within a few years of their release. 
This prison cell is made with ladders, The ladder symbolizes the lessons that a prisoner can learn and want to move up in the society and to change to be a better person, but the prison system here makes that impossible because they can try to climb up the ladder but they never really get anywhere