Mass Incarceration Pros And Cons

The U.S. prison system is one of many great controversies when compared to other correctional systems. America’s prison population has increased by 700% (2.4 million current inmates) since the start of the war on drugs in 1971. As a result of this “war”, people that fall into the racial minority have suffered as a direct consequence of unjust legislation. Our prison system is known for its overrepresentation of minorities such as Blacks and Hispanics. This unfortunately gives these groups of people a perennial negative stigma as a result. I argue that the U.S. prison industrial-complex emphatically displays signs of prejudice and racism and disproportionately incarcerates people of color at a rate higher than whites. Yes, there are skeptics who think “the left’s prison-complex” is wrong about their theory of mass incarceration but the statistical data and concrete facts in support of my argument are very compelling.

Mass Incarceration is a growing dilemma in the United States that populates our prisons at an alarming rate. Michelle Alexander is a professor at Ohio State University and a graduate of Stanford law school. She states in her award winning book, The new Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness “In less than thirty years, the U.S. penal population exploded from around 300,000 to more than 2 million” (Alexander, 6). These young men and women are unable to afford a decent lawyer because they come from such a poverty-stricken background. Men and women are at a financial disadvantage in our justice system. Lawyers and attorneys cost a fortune and most people can just simply not afford them. Others plead to their charges because

Mass incarceration has been an issue in the United States since the start of the War on Drugs, because of the political agenda attached to the “tough on crime” regimen thousands of people have suffered as a consequence. The solution to this is one that can only be possibly solved by approaching through several angles. The ten steps presented by Michael Tonry, are an innovative and have merit to some extent. However, mass incarceration results from more than unjust sentencing laws, which is his main focus. If ever we are to resolve the issue, society and the criminal justice system must come together to completely reevaluate what we consider to be “tough on crime” and redefine the purpose of prisons, strictly punishment or rehabilitation. The focus has to shift from harsh sentencing, stigma, racial discrimination to a basic form of rehabilitation and reduction of the prison system in general. The criminal justice system has to do what they are actually meant to do and focus on rehabilitation measures, and when possible completely stop interaction with the prison system all together.

Views on Mass Incarceration range from controversy of witnessing innocent African Americans and Latinos wasting away in prison for a charge of simple possession. This is an issue for me when recollecting a situation that happened to me my freshman year at Pratt University to what many would call a cry of outrage. Additionally, it has become a widespread problem to those who lose their future and great opportunities because of carrying. Mass Incarceration should be furthered examined when comparing non- violent offenses to offenses that enable threats to society to walk the streets freely, yet those who are serving numerous years in prison for being an advocate of cannabis usage are sitting in jail cells among murderers.

As the number of prisoners have constantly been rising at an exceedly fast pace, several governments around the world have embraced the use of private prisons. Private prisons are confinements run by a third party, through an agreement with the government. In the United States, it is estimated that there are over 1.6 million inmates, of that there are 8% that are housed in privately-operated prisons. While the other 92% are housed in the public prison system. Private prisons have existed since the 19th century. Their use increased in the 20th century and continues to rise in some states. When a government makes an agreement with a private prison, it makes payments per prisoner or vacancy in jail on a regular basis for maintenance of the prisoners. Privatization became involved due to the fact that prisons were becoming overpopulated. Public prisons contracted the confinement and care of prisoners with other organizations. Due to the cost-effectiveness of private firms, prisons began to contract out more services, such as medical care, food service, inmate transportation, and vocational training. Over time private firms saw an opportunity for expansion and eventually took over entire prison operations. However, now their security, how they treat the inmates, and their true cost effectiveness has come into question

The judicial system has negatively impacted the African American population with mass incarceration, especially for African American women. African American women are being incarcerated at all time high, and there should be a national outcry for these women. When women are incarcerated, she is labeled and stigmatized by their incarceration. Society views incarcerated women as deviant who has gone against social norms. However, research and data has shown that more men are imprisoned, but women serve longer sentences for the same charge. Incarceration is time for self-learning, self-evaluating and self-caring to become a changed person than before entering prison. This is the purpose of incarceration force an individual to

Mass incarceration has been a problem in America for many years. Prisoners have been charged for wide range of reasons, but drug convictions is one of the highest. The first half of the novel suggest that the mass incarceration impacts the people of color. There are more colored people present in the prisons than white people. This shows that there is a distortion because white people do the same crime as the colored, but they are less likely to get jail time for it. The New Jim Crow suggests that the system is corrupted because colored people are pleading guilty because they fear of making situations worse. This causes more jail time for lesser degree crimes. On the other hand, white people are most likely manage to get away from incarceration.

1..Use Wacquant, Simon and Barlow to discuss the reasons why the numbers of people incarcerated in the U.S. rose by over 500% in the last thirty years. What are the social consequences of mass incarceration for American society? Why is the incarceration rate now declining?

2 million people fill the prisons and jails in the U.S. The U.S. locks up more people than any other nation and 2.3 million people are confined in a correctional facility. This is what mass incarceration is. After slavery ended the system began to support the guilty and rich rather than the innocent and poor. African Americans were also arrested for minor crimes as simple as looking at white men or women in the eyes could led them to getting arrested. Plea bargains created a frightening sigma in regard to fighting for their innocence. The lasting effect of mass incarceration begins with the idea with war on drugs. A rise in recreational drug use in the 1960s led to President Nixon’s focus on targeting substance abuse. After he declared the

them the correction system, and mass incoeration will not serve any good to our nation. Also all that mass incoercation is leading to is to increase of private prison

The collateral consequences of mass incarceration are effects in an inmate’s community, social life, employment, wages, and family life. The separation of an inmate from their family causes many struggles to occur in the household such as the inability to become financially stable for their partners, a loss of connection with their partner and children, living with a social stigma, and divorce or separation. Even after an inmate gets out of prison, their life is still impacted from being incarcerated. Because of the stigma that comes with being incarcerated, “ex-offenders” find it hard to either find a job, maintain a job, or get a job with a decent amount of pay. These consequences contribute to inequality through establishing a type of status on an individual. By becoming an inmate or even before they are imprisoned, inmates’ deal with Lower-class family issues and stigmas that stick with them for life.

The United States is home to five percent of the world population, but 25 percent of the world’s prisoner. There must be a change to the current prison system which is doing more harm than good in American society and must be reformed. Reasons for this claim are that American prisons are too overcrowded with inmates, which creates a dangerous and unhuman environment. The cost to run a prison has gotten too expensive for tax payer pockets, and lastly the prison system is more as a punishment instead of rehabilitation with about sixteen percent of inmates most serious offence being drug charges. Prisons fall short of reforming criminals and the government is obligated to completely reform the prison systems in the United States.

A correctional facility is a prison where criminals are being held restricted. The main two institutions are jails and prisons. The type of offense and how much time he/she is given will determine whether they will be in a jail for a short period of time or sent to prison for a long period of time. Many type of criminals are held in these institutions like murders, kidnappers, drug dealers and rapists. The prison population is dramatically increasing every day and it’s becoming a major concern in the United States. The overpopulation is endangering the lives of inmates and correctional officers. There are too many inmates and not enough prison guards which is a major issue. For example, a huge fight breaks out and it’s five inmates versus another five inmates and there’s on three prison guards on duty. Three prison guards trying to break up a fight between ten inmates is a major issue cause more than likely those guards will end up hurt or possibly killed. Many criminals in the prison system are there because of the war on drugs. According to the data released January 25, 2014 by the Federal Bureau of Prisons 50% of criminals make up the prison population due to drug offenses. The next largest category is immigration and those criminals make up 10% of the population. These two categories make up over 60% of the prison population consisting of nonviolent crimes. Since the number of people convicted of drug offenses increased so has the prison population.

Today, in America, some prisoners are living worse than some third world countries are for little crimes such as thief. Overcrowded prisons can literally be defined as placing more prisoners in a prison facility than the prison was built to maintain. Every prison has a recommended capacity for which they are to hold prisoners, since there is such an increase in offenders going to prison, these capacities are being ignored and the population of these prisons are significantly increased, making them overcrowded. Too many prisoners and not enough room. This country needs to spend more money to build new prisons. New prisons cost too much to build. There are more prisoners than the guards can control safely. Because of overcrowding some state prisons are sends their inmates down to local prisons. Some prison inmates are sleeping in hallways, storage rooms and even lavatories. Due to overcrowding some prisons are producing conditions so unhealthy it is against the constitution. Because the new prisons won’t be built for a while some prisons are doing the only thing they can, freeing inmates early. Another reason for overcrowding is that more people are going to jail for smaller, less offensive crimes. Because the number of people in prison, the educational programs are limited. Before the inmate was placed near his or her program but now they are placed where ever there is a bed. Some prisons are placing inmate wherever there can. Some prisoners need special education that is not

The situation with the " Inmates defeat Harvard debate team" definitely surprised me in a way that one would not come to think of immediately. My first thought came at the how surprised everyone was that the inmates had conquered the debate. In realization I know that many inmates are actually very smart in intellectual aspects even though in other aspects they may have made major or minor decisions. However I did imagine the Ivy league schools to be seen as an "untouchable" school when it came to competitions. With that being said, I believe it doesn't matter where you came from, its the personal drive and motivation that defines the outcome. Lastly, I should be surprised at the income, the prisons usually don't pay ultimate importance into