“Ten Unintended Consequences of Growth in Imprisonment”

This article was written by Todd R. Clear. It was published by Aspen Publishers. His purpose for this article is to inform the reader of the imperfections of the corrections industrial complex. There was a lot of data discussed in the article. An example would be that 30 percent of male African Americans between the ages of 20 and 40 from Washington D.C. are currently incarcerated. I believe this is partly due to the unfair “war on drugs.” I have researched this topic prior to reading this article and found it to be interesting. The prison system in the United States has grown substantially. At the rate it is growing, it makes me wonder if they are trying to make an imprisoned population. An example in the article states that 3 percent of American adults are under some form of correctional supervision. I know that tax payer’s money helps build correctional facilities, but it has also helped FEMA build many control facilities across the country that are currently unoccupied but are operational. Big business has made a lot of money in the corrections industrial complex. An example given in the article is that corrections budgets have increased over 1000 percent since 1971. To me, this is just one more example of how the rich get richer while the poor suffer. I believe that lobbying from big business now controls who is elected on high levels and who is appointed key positions. This makes me worried because I believe that the United States is moving towards a fascist government. There are many social consequences discussed in the article. The replacement of offenders is one issue. You can’t lock up the idea of the crime, but only the criminal that acted. It surprised me that the he did not discuss the fact that when someone is incarcerated they are basically given the chance to be given a PhD in crime. So when they get out, they will be more dangerous. This is what happened in the 1920’s when a lot of the gangsters were incarcerated.