As prisoners are being visited by their families, a Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner) voiceover explains that "a conviction puts the whole family in prison," as you're either on the inside dreaming of leaving or outside hoping someone is released. Even the cops and the correction officers are trapped in their own cages, which become more comfortable as they adapt and become capable of doing anything to survive.
"But incarceration is a business and prisoners are product," McLusky declares, and once you're put through the prison machine you're part of it forever because of what you've seen and done.
