Alright, proof positive Trump is making America dumb. I present the photo below of our military putting razor wire on the AMERICAN SIDE of the wall in Nogales, Texas. Can anyone explain the rationale for putting razor wire on the American side???
If Israel jumped off the Brooklyn bridge would you? And what is the rationale for ground up razor wire on the AMERICAN SIDE?
Actually there is probably some proper technical explanation for why barbed wire is preferred to be placed at the top of the inward side of a barrier. There are numerous fences/walls around the world which are configured in this manner. I expect that it is easy to place a ladder over barbed wire on the front side of a wall/fence; but more difficult to contend with it when going down the backside.
Perhaps the other side of the fence is actually Mexico and I don't think they would approve of U.S. troops working on their soil. Or the thought is the people climbing the fence have to scale down the other side and this would prevent that. Of course they could stand on top of the fence and jump to clear it, but that would give a prudent person some pause. Few agile guys with snips will overcome this.
Why would we put razor wire on the Mexican side of the wall? It would be simple to remove with wire cutters if we did that. They would just clip & remove the wire from the areas they wanted to climb, and hop the fence. There's a reason why prisons line their perimeters with razor wire. It makes it much more difficult to clear the barrier without getting hurt.
I get having the wire at the top but at ground level on the American side is actually a danger to the public. I think your prison reference actually proves to be a good analogy.
The public has no business getting that close to a secure area. The new killer robot security units will handle this in the future.