Introduction
The Prison Industrial System comprises all agencies that enforce the law, such as prisons, police, and courts. In the United States, the system is a normalization of various dynamics, such as historical, cultural, and interpersonal, that routinely benefit the whites while causing negative impacts for the people of color (Roberts, 2019). It is a system of hierarchy and inequity that has been characterized by white supremacy. It is the preferential treatment for white people at the expense of the Black, Arab, Native American, Pacific Islander, Asian, Latino, Black, and other racially oppressed people (Roberts, 2019). This paper explores various ways the current prison-industrial system perpetuates racism.
This paper will explore various study viewpoints on the prison industrial complex will be explored. During Reagan’s administration, there was the establishment of a system meant to ensure that there would be many cages and jails for locking up people (Balko, 2018). The main target of the war on drugs was on African Americans who were typical drug users and resulted in many arrests (Balko, 2018). It also contributed to the police force engaging in corruption practices targeting African Americans (Balko, 2018). Additionally, the media, news stations, and newspapers primarily define the typical African American as criminals.
Existing Research on the Topic
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in the United States, in 2018, the Black male population accounted for 35%, Hispanic males 24%, and white males 29%. On the contrary, white female imprisonments accounted for 47%, while black females accounted for 18% of the female population (Balko, 2018). Additionally, the rate of black women imprisonment is 1.8 times higher compared to that of white women. Also, the rate of black male incarceration 5.8 times, which is higher than the rate of white male imprisonment (Balko, 2018). Therefore, all ethnic groups, Puerto Rican Americans, Native Americans, and African Americans, have the most incarceration rates (Balko, 2018). As a result, the black population comprises the most significant portion of incarcerated in U.S. jails and prisons.
Racial Profiling and Bias
The inner cities that are the living areas for African Americans have become law enforcement targets. Police are provided with incredible judgments, which results in racial profiling and bias (Bozelko, 2017). Also, when the Black Americans are freed from the long imprisonment, they encounter an unsupportive society (Bozelko, 2017). Therefore, the current criminal justice appears similar to Jim Crow and slavery.
Dehumanizing Treatments and Wrongful Convictions
Every African American child born today has a ratio of 1:3 of ending up in jail ((Sawyer & Wagner, 2020).). Yet, the African American population makes up 13% of the United States Population (Sawyer & Wagner, 2020). Therefore, one must ask why an increased number of African Americans in the prison industrial complex (Sawyer & Wagner, 2020). This is because of the increased rate of black people incarceration in the U.S. Also, many Americans today are not aware of the current state of racism and incarceration in the prison industrial complex. This is why people only think about Jim Crow and slavery when people talk about racism.
All the above cases reveal how the prison industrial complex promotes racism in the U.S. This paper is explanatory because it focuses on systematic racism in detail (Carson & Statistician, 2021). Data will be collected from the National Prisoner Statistics on Prisoners under federal and state authorities (Carson & Statistician, 2021). The available data is relative because the collected statistics were done on October 22, 2020 (Carson & Statistician, 2021). This data will be beneficial since it will provide information on variations between white and African American populations’ imprisonment for that year, revealing a considerable difference.
References
Balko, R. (2018). There’s overwhelming evidence that the criminal-justice system is racist. Here’s the proof. The Washington Post, 18. Web.
Bozelko, C., (2017). Prison labor: Laws & wages make it close to slavery, give working prisoners dignity and decent wages. Web.
Carson, A., & Statistician, B. (2021). Bureau of Justice Statistics (Bjs) – Prisoners in 2019. Web.
Roberts, D. E. (2019). Abolition Constitutionalism.Harv. L. Rev., 133, 1. Web.
Sawyer, W. & Wagner, P., (2020). Mass incarceration: The whole pie 2020. Web.