What Is Really Happening In US Prisons?
Rehabilitation was once the stated goal of the U.S. prison system. However, funds for prison educational programs and prison libraries are being cut all over the country, whether they are federal or state. As a result, most prisoners actually leave prison without having acquired any additional skills, or knowing any job that might help them reintegrate into the society. In addition, many may have suffered psychological damage from their experiences of isolation, violence, and deprivation while in prison. In short, rather than being "corrective" or rehabilitative, prisons often turn out people who are in worse shape than when they entered. This does not help the individual, nor does it help society.
How Many People are Currently in Prison?
The U.S. currently imprisons a higher percentage of its population than any other country in the world! The number of prisoners in state and federal prisons has increased over five-fold in the last 30 years, from under 200,000 in 1970 to currently over TWO MILLION (2,135,901 people in 2004).
If 2001 incarceration rates remain unchanged, an estimated 1 out of every 15 persons in the U.S. (6.6%) will serve time in a prison during their lifetime, with chances of going to prison at some time in life being much worse for African Americans (18.6% chance) than Hispanics (10% chance) or Caucasians (3.4% chance).
What Is The "Prison Industrial Complex?"
In short, the United States government currently has a tendency to rely on its police forces, the court system, and federal and state prisons to solve society's problems, rather than making use of more appropriate solutions. Many activists call this inappropriate use of our justice system the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC).
The Prison Industrial Complex, according to Critical Resistance, "is a complicated system situated at the intersection of governmental and private interests that uses prisons as a solution to social, political, and economic problems."
As many researchers and journalists have documented, this complex system fosters a situation in which certain business leaders can profit from prisons. These businesspeople become increasingly interested in maintaining a significant prison population, because they benefit from the cheap labor the prisoners provide their companies and corporations (sometimes with the prison laborers earning as low as 25 cents an hour, according to the New York Times). At the same time, the government becomes increasingly interested in building more and more prisons rather than solving society's problems in a better way.
Because of the Prison Industrial Complex, an increasing amount of taxpayer dollars are spent on prisons, jails, and police rather than improving public education, funding job training programs, or providing mental health services and more affordable housing for low income and people.
The Critical Resistance website goes on to say: "The PIC depends upon the oppressive systems of racism, classism, sexism, and homophobia. It includes human rights violations, the death penalty, industry and labor issues, policing, courts, media, community powerlessness, the imprisonment of political prisoners, and the elimination of dissent."
Who Is In Prison Now? Why Are They There?
At this present time, one out of three African-American males in the US goes to prison at least once in his life. Right now, about two-thirds of prisoners of both sexes are African-American, and about one-fifth are Hispanic. In 2005, 9% of the total U.S. African American population was in prison, compared to 2% of the total Caucasian population. Prisons are perpetuating American segregation and racism in the most terrible way.
Women comprise the fastest-growing segment of the prison population, 80% of those being mothers of children under 18. So as the number of women behind bars grows, the detrimental effects are felt by a whole generation of children and teenagers.
Many people are sent to prison when they could have been better served by other public institutions or drug rehabilitation services. In 1997, 68% of people in prison were without a high school diploma, and over 10% of people in prison had been homeless at the time they were incarcerated. Over 60% of people in prison are there for NON-VIOLENT offenses. "Mandatory minimum sentencing," harsh drug laws, and our society's criminalization of people in poverty has further fueled our country's recent massive prison expansion. All these factors add up to a system of mass incarceration that is ultimately destructive to our whole society.
For the most recent information, see the website of the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics.
How can I help to change this?
Educate yourself and get connected with local organizations that are working to change the prison system. Check out our links page!