Mass Incarceration and Prison Industrial Complex

Mass Incarceration and Prison Industrial Complex
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Mass Incarceration and Prison Industrial Complex
The ultimate goal of slavery was to create and produce wealth with the cheapest means possible. Had it been more affordable to produce a sack of cotton by any means other than suppressing Africans, no one would have bothered about keeping slaves or the necessity of Jim Crow laws (Nellis). This perception still reigns supreme today, informing business decisions. In a typical business organization, the acceptable labor costs range between 25-35%, with significant variances across industries and locations. American businesses understand this, which is why they are increasingly looking into Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa, where labor costs are cheaper (Gur and Dilek), and why wages have stagnated despite the perceived growth of the GDP (Palladino). It is this need to create wealth cheaply that necessitates the need for racism, inequality, and hate to the extent that even though slavery and Jim Crow laws are evils of the past, they still exist in the form of incarceration or what Alexandar (5) called the New Jim Crow.
Exploitation of the Loophole in the 13th Amendment
Following the end of the Civil War, ownership of slaves was no longer desirable, and abolition was rubber-stamped by the 13th Amendment. The Amendment abolished slavery and servitude "except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted" (Clapp). Within these words, a loophole was created that was effectively exploited to ensure that a significant portion of African Americans are convicted and retained in the perpetual cycle of slavery where minority groups are denied rights and opportunities. The only difference between this loophole and slavery or Jim Crow is that it works under the disguise of law or the Constitution. In other words, this loophole has resulted in mass incarceration or the New Jim Crow.
Mass Incarceration
The United States leads the world in many aspects, including the number of people behind bars or under the scrutiny of the criminal justice system. It is almost as though Americans commit more crimes than other nationalities in the world or the US has the toughest laws. While the United States forms only 5% of the global population, it has 20% of the global prison population (Hickson, Purbey, and Dean). In this view, mass incarceration refers to citizens' high imprisonment rate. In the US, this rate surged towards the end of the 20th century. According to Nellis (pr. 9), the prison population grew 8% annually between 1985 and 1995. The five-year period between 1990 and 1995 saw increased prison population across all states. South Carolina recorded the lowest growth (13%) while Texas was the highest (130%). According to Harris and Kearney (pr. 3), poor Americans carry the unequal burden of mass incarceration. People of color and minority groups often fall in this category, with African American facing disproportionately higher rates of incarceration. Black men, for instance, are six times more likely to face incarceration than white men (Hetey and Eberhardt). By having more people behind bars or under the scrutiny of the criminal justice system, America sustains a population stripped of rights just as intended under the Jim Crow laws and slavery.
This American phenomenon instigates poor psychological, physical, and economic outcomes for people who experience imprisonment, their families, and the community at large. Imprisonment is also responsible for the long-term decline in household income and reduced chances of employment (DuVernay). People who have been imprisoned before also have a higher likelihood of relying on public assistance, food insecurity, and housing instability. Children of imprisoned parents face significantly declined health and academic outcomes with increased risks of mental health conditions and substance abuse (Sawyer and Wagner ). When people of color suffer the most from these outcomes, it shows that the modern incarceration era is akin to the Jim Crow era, where laws are designed so that minority groups are unfairly or disproportionately subjugated.
The cloak of law & order and the noble cause for justice is what chastises mass incarceration in the United States. For example, the sentencing outlined under the faзade of the War on Drugs in the 1970s was responsible for the accelerated increase in the prison population in the 1980s and 1990s. When it came to drug offenses, for instance, the three-strikes policies enabled the dramatic growth of imprisonment at the federal level (Hetey and Eberhardt). The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 imposed mandatory minimums on drug offenses, including five-ye...