United States of Incarceration

I find it funny that a country with the highest incarceration rate per capita than any country in the world has the audacity to call itself “the land of the free”. The United States has become a prison state, if not a police state. But what is the cause of these outrageous incarceration numbers? Three words: war on drugs.

The U.S. has 751 people in prison for every 100,000 of the population. Russia is the only country that comes close with 627 per every 100,000 people. 3.1 percent of the adult population is in jail. Can you as an American citizen accept that? Can you accept that 1 out of every 100 adults is a criminal? Can you accept that we are incarcerating non-violent offenders on such a massive level? (Kirk, T.J.)

Following the start of Nixon’s drug war the incarceration rate has increased up to 700% in 2005, according to Pew researchers. "After a 700-percent increase in the US prison population between 1970 and 2005, you'd think the nation would finally have run out of lawbreakers to put behind bars," said the report by Pew's Public Safety Performance Project. But apparently we haven’t yet. In 2009 alone, 1.66 million Americans were arrested on drug charges, more than were arrested on assault or larceny charges. And 4 of 5 of those arrests were simply for possession.

Why do we have so many non-violent offenders in jail? Simple. Just follow the money. Most Americans are under the impression that prisons are privately owned. They would be wrong. Most prisons are owned by private corporations like Corrections Corporation of America. You must be wondering what this has to do with our outrageous incarceration rate. Well, I’ll tell you. In a 10k form submitted to the Security and Exchange Commission, the CCA listed several possible risks to their bottom line. “The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by the relaxation of enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices or through the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently prescribed by our criminal laws. For instance, any changes with respect to drugs or controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them.” If we ended the war on drugs we would hurt the CCA! Does it surprise you that the CCA and other private corrections facilities are doing whatever they can to keep the incarceration rate high? It’s in their best interest! Not the best interest of the American people.

In 2009 the CCA was a major financial backer of the anti-immigration law in Arizona. According to the Boston Phoenix, the CCA also spent more than $2.7 million from 2006 through September 2008 on lobbying for stricter laws. The CCA responded that it does not lobby lawmakers to increase jail time or push for longer sentences under any circumstance, noting that it "educates officials on the benefits of public-private partnership but does not lobby on crime and sentencing policies. However, it is clear that the company is aware of the effect changing legislation can have on its bottom line.(Wiki)

"The U.S. pursues the war on drugs with an ignorant fanaticism," said Stern of King's College. Do we really? Or is it simply greedy corporations like the CCA and racist nutjobs like Nixon who make it seem so? When will there be a courageous man or woman who will work their way through the political infrastructure and say and do what needs to done? Will there ever be a time when the freedom of a human being is more than just a commodity? What can we do to solve this problem we have in America? Before we can solve anything, we need a president that is willing to talk about what is really going on. President Obama has ignored the issue of the drug war. He has ignored our massive incarceration rate. The first step to solving the problem is finding someone willing to talk about it. I would like to live to see the day in America where slavery and freedom are not dictated by a corporation’s bottom line.