Essay On Mass Incarceration

The United States has maintained holding the record in having the world’s biggest prison population. The combined total of both the prisons and jails population is 2.1 million individuals. According to Marc Mauer (2004), in the United States, “we have the incongruity of the wealthiest society in human history using prison to a degree previously unknown in any democratic society” (p. 1). The heightening number of individuals we incarcerate has caused overpopulation within the prison systems. Thus, leading mass imprisonment to have a long-lasting negative effect on society in the 21st century.
In our correctional system, there have been always a great number of struggles dealt with daily. Due to mass incarceration, some of the prison and jail
33). This drop in the percentage of white male officers made room for minorities and women to have a fair shot at being a police officer. The sexual and racial discrimination women were faced with was a direct result of male privilege. Men were viewed as authorities, holding power “thus speaking for all mankind” unlike women who were “seen as only speaking for women, a special interest group” (Barak, 2010, p. 12). Traditionally, the law has always viewed women through the eyes of how men see them because the laws are “written, enforced, and judged by men” (Barak, 2010, p. 13).
Throughout the years, the idea of feminism surfaced and changed the viewpoints of many, while breaking down barriers that formerly prevented both genders from being viewed as equals. Some additional struggles female offenders were faced with was that they came into the prison as victims of emotional and sexual abuse, poor, and uneducated. Women “in modern prisons continue to be overpoliced and overcontrolled” (Gideon, 2012, p. 23). Male inmates were subjected to sexual exploitation and humiliating strip searches. Further, female officers struggled with being represented and respected by their male
In the past women were typically arrested on charges of prostitution, larceny, and fraud. Women still were at a disadvantage because they were not receiving fair and equal punishments like the men. In the 1900s, women could be punished for crimes committed towards their husband. This type of treatment violated the standard of sexuality. Since the 1900s, boys and girls were housed in separate facilities. Girls were treated harshly and were often placed in solitary confinement more than the boys. Belknap noted that girls, “appear to be at risk of being sexually assaulted by the male staff and other jail inmates” (2006, p. 11). Much like the women, girls were not being viewed as equals to the boys. The “juvenile girls’ institutions often reinforce gender stereotypes and roles” and did not offer the young women abundant vocational programs (Belknap, 2006, p. 11). Female prisoners were exposed to gender-stereotyped roles while in prison. They would have to do chores and complete tasks which served the male prisoner population. Their “primary task was making and mending the male prisoners’ bedding and clothing” (Belknap, 2006, p. 3). Female inmates were seen as homemakers while in prison, catering to the male inmates who should have been caring for themselves. This is a prime example of how punishment was not the same for both