Mass incarceration in the prison complex system has maintained its presence in American society since the abolition of slavery
Mass incarceration in the prison complex system has maintained its presence in American society since the abolition of slavery. It is one of the major problem to social justice and democratic inequality in the United States because the government and the private prison system uses prisons as a solution to social, political, and economic problems. It includes the death penalty, slave labor, political prisoners, courts, the media, policing, and human’s rights violations. When one considers the horrible ultimate driving force behind such a system, one can only conclude that mass incarceration makes itself a large presence in the national justice system. Which in turn creates racial bias and disparities amongst individuals. In order to resolve the issue of mass incarceration, we have to start with the strict sentencing policies, which will lead to mandatory minimums sentences; eliminate the private prisons system because it creates a monetary incentive to lock up more individuals.
The racial disparity amongst individual affected by mass incarceration is extreme, and it is not a simple society to prison direction; it’s an issue that physically affecting Hispanic and people of color. As a matter of fact, Rios from Taylor & Francis Online agrees when he writes, “As of 2003 12% of all Black males in their 20s were in prison or jail; almost 4% of Latinos and only 1.5% of whites in their 20s were incarcerated. One in three African American youth ages 20–29 are incarcerated or on probation or parole.” As this quote clearly stated, in black and Latino communities, mass incarceration has become a youth phenomenon. Black and Latino youth are systematically constructed as criminal and constantly facing with the rage of penal state and criminalization at an early age. Prior to creating racial disparity, mass incarceration traps many African American and Hispanic men and women in a life of endeavor, violence, poverty, and restricted life opportunities. Matt Ferner from the Huffington Post also agreed when he stated, “Blacks and Hispanics make up about 30 percent of the U.S. population, but they compose over 50 percent of those incarcerated.” Clearly, this evidence prove that mass incarceration is negatively shaping the life of African Americans and Hispanics culture. More black and Hispanic people have been arrested compared to white people. Mass incarceration not only affecting society, but it also creating injustice and racism in a nation where everyone is supposed to view equally. Incarcerated countless Americans citizens does not only ruined their lives, it might have created some new issue itself. Truthfully, mass incarceration turned African American and Hispanic citizens into career criminal because beings a convicted felon took away opportunities such as voting, housing, and certain jobs; mass incarceration affect American citizen, especially blacks and Latinos, mentally and physically.
