In the documentary, 13th, the director, Ava DuVernay, conducts a detailed analysis of the system of mass incarceration in America. More specifically, how the prison structure of America affects people of color. The 13th amendment may have physically removed the shackles that enslaved African Americans, but replaced them with “mass incarceration, police brutality and policies that have continually disenfranchised people of color.”…
The article written by Donald Cohen talks about how Americans, citizens and policy makers alike, feel that the privatization of prisons is worsening the criminal justice system. The article stated about a consensus that mass incarceration is not safe nor beneficial for our communities. This conflicts with the interests of corporations, such as CCA and GEO, who would benefit in the increase of incarceration rates. Private prison corporations currently play a part in multiple aspects of the criminal justice policy process. A new campaign called ‘Programs Not Profits,’ is advocating for the money that go to private prisons and investing it in more job training, substance abuse treatment, and mental health care. ‘Programs Not Profits’ is only one…
The history of prisons is documented in the book "Are Prisons Obsolete?" Angela Davis specializes in jail discrimination and criminal justice. Davis debates the social issues surrounding prisons. According to her, when a person is homeless, prison frequently ends up being their only option for housing. Angela Davis wants us to understand that jail does not result in the “reformation of inmates”.…
Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) is a term used to describe the overlapping interests of government and industry that use surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as solutions to social, economic, and political problems. Angela Davis is a journalist and American political activist who believes that the U.S practice of super-incarceration is closer to new age slavery than any system of criminal justice. She defines the PIC as biased for criminalizing communities of color and used to make profit for corporations from the prisoner’s suffering. In her book, Are Prisons Obsolete?, she argues that the prison systems are no longer in use and out of date since prisons just keep increasing as…
"An institution or reform movement that is not selfish, must originate in the recognition of some evil that is adding to the sum of human suffering, or diminishing the sum of happiness." This quote by suffragist and philanthropist Clara Barton so eloquently describes the issues within the United States prison system and its desperate need to for reformation. Chapter four of The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander brought forth the gaspingly oppressive sector of prison (via the judicial branch). Alexander illuminated the reader to the realities of the United States prison system and the covert nuances of racism, discrimination, and the mechanisms brought forth to perpetuate 'legal slavery' in America. In regards to the major points of the chapter, the author described: the effect of prison on society, African Americans relationship in regards to prison- i.e. their chances to go and the societal influences that make African Americans disproportionately susceptible to the prison system- as well as the person's role in society after they are released from prison.…
Throughout the book it is shown how discriminating the policies in place can be. Much of the book describes the consequences that follow convicted felons, whether they are guilty or not, and how the system is racially biased. Banned from public housing, discriminated against by those hiring, essentially trapped as a second class citizen. A racial caste, developed years after slavery and Jim Crow have been dismantled. Alexander establishes her argument that the U.S justice system and the “war on drugs” is merely a means of racial control, hiding under the label of “colorblind”.…
“When They Get Out” by Sasha Abramsky cries out to the general public for the change in corrections that the convicted are unable to do. Abramsky leaves nothing to chance in his war on the prison systems for the awakening of the American society to an ever growing problem. Therefore, Abramsky commissions an argument with real uncensored facts. In spite of how incarceration envisions reforming the convicted, Abramsky argues that the prison system corrupts prisoners into worse criminal behaviors. Throughout his essay, Abramsky vehemently questions the true motive of the continuously expanding correctional system. As Abramsky blatantly brandishes the numerous faults of corrections, he splits the purpose of corrections into two separate motives,…
In the first chapter of his book Racism without Racists: Color-blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva argues that color-blind racism, a new racial ideology which emerged in the late 1960s (16), has become “a formidable political tool” for “the maintenance of the racial order” and “white privilege” in the “post-Civil Rights era” (3). According to his argument about color-blind racism, in contemporary America, although few whites appear like racists, racial inequality does exist everywhere (2). Racism changed from “overt means” of discrimination to “subtle and institutional practices” (3). “Nonracial dynamics” become “white common sense” about explanations…
In The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander examines our current criminal justice system and the mass incarceration of African Americans in the United States. She argues that the War on Drugs and drug offense convictions are the single most compelling cause for the magnitude of people of color behind bars. Prisons are used as a system of racial and social control that function in the same way as Jim Crow laws. It is no longer legal to discriminate against people based on race. By targeting black and minority communities through the War on Drugs and labeling them as felons, all the old forms of discrimination became legal. The racial caste systems of slavery and Jim Crow have not disappeared, but…
African Americans constitute nearly 1 million of the nearly 2.3 million of the incarcerated population. And, according to the NAACP, African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites (NAACP). According to Unlocking America, “if African American and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates of whites, today’s prison and jail populations would decline by approximately 50%” (NAACP). These statistics show the harsh effects of mass incarceration and how the prison system is targeting minorities, specifically Blacks and…
“The Scourge of Racial Bias in New York State’s Prisons.” New York Times, 3 Dec. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/12/03/nyregion/new-york-state-prisons-inmates-racial-bias.html?_r=0. Accessed 22 Feb. 2017. This article shows the underlying racial bias in New York prison systems. Clinton correctional Facility in New York has 998 white guards, and only one black guard. Due to a lack of exposure to any people of color, many of these guards only interactions with black people are with those that are prisoners -- leading to overall demonization of anyone who is black. This is reflected in longer prison sentences, more time spent in solitary confinement, and even cases of black prisoners getting beaten by guards for committing no crimes. Throughout American history, the demonization of black men is not uncommon or rare. Just look at Minstrel shows, extremely popular during the 19th century -- white men would paint their skin black to portray black people as selfish, lazy, and cowardly. America’s long history of mistreating black people stems from the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade when white people would import Africans to work as slaves on their plantations. Even after the abolition of slavery, racial prejudice still held, with Minstrel Shows, lynchings, and segregation being the…
Throughout human history, prisons have been portrayed as institutions that are set to protect the masses, and punish those that need to be punished. However, by analyzing the prison system, the fact of the matter is that prisons exist to protect dominant groups and vilify and criminalize minority groups. This is an evident and clear fact that can be seen through the numerous statistics that support the fact that visible minorities and racialized individuals are incarcerated at alarming rates, compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Therefore, although it is an ugly truth, the prison system is set up to perpetuate structural inequalities, and reinforce dominant ideologies over who is “good” and who is “bad”, by vilifying the actions of one…
In, “Beyond the Prison Bubble,” published in the Wilson Quarterly in the winter 2011, Joan Petersilia shows different choices about the imprisonment systems. The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any free nation (para.1). The crime rate over a thirty year span had grown by five times since 1960 to 1990. There are more people of color or Hispanics in federal and state institutions then there are of any other nationality. The prison system is growing more than ever; the growth in twenty years has been about 21 new prisons. Mass imprisonment has reduced crime but, has not helped the inmate to gradually return back to society with skills or education. But the offenders leaving prison now are more likely to have fairly long criminal records, lengthy histories of alcohol and drug abuse, significant periods of unemployment and homelessness, and physical or mental disability (par.12).…
Summer in Nigeria signifies the season when there is no rainfall. It is the season where most events and expeditions are organized. In summer, people express themselves more freely and confidently. Children can be seen jumping around in excitement and flexing their tender muscles on the playground and outside. Adults and youths too do several things in summer. They organize concerts and go to the beach in summer for fun and excitement. Going to the beach in summer can be fun with people dressed in colorful swimming trunks and walking in the sun.…
Pitra Dosh is probably the most widely misinterpreted concept of Vedic Jyotish as many of the present day astrologers describe it as the curse of ancestors which is troubling the native and accordingly they suggest remedies to pacify and please the ancestors so that such ancestors may take back their curse. For this reason, such astrologers recommend to their clients that they should get Pitra Dosh Pooja performed at places like Haridwar, Badrinath Dham, Gaya Ji or Trayambkeshwar temple in order to rectify Pitra Dosh present in their horoscopes. These astrologers suggest that Shraadh Karmas, pooja and charities should be done at these places in order to pacify the ancestors. Over a period of time, many people…