The Prison Industrial Complex

Introduction: I am focusing on the Prison Industrial Complex in this course because it directly relates to many themes we have covered. This subject directly relates to themes explored regarding globalization, populations, politics and trade, and capitalism. Some of the major themes and issues in my research have been the role that race plays in prison populations, the role that economic status and class plays in prison populations, and the amount of money there is to be made being keeping prisons full. There are three questions I have used to guide my research. They are:

1. When did the prison system in the United States become what we refer to as the Prison Industrial Complex?
2. What is the "school-to-prison pipeline?"
3. Why are US prisons overcrowded?

The first source I will be using is an article in The Atlantic by Eric Schlosser. The article examines the history of the modern Prison Industrial Complex in the United States.

Source One: Schlosser, Eric. December, 1998, The Prison Industrial Complex, The Atlantic,  https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1998/12/the-prison-industrial-complex/304669/ 

What Does the Source Say: The Prison Industrial Complex can be traced back to January, 1973. Prior to 1973, prison populations in the United States had been falling. Mandatory-minimum sentences (a mandatory amount of time for a guilty verdict) had been largely abolished. In January 1973, Nelson Rockefeller, then governor of New York, gave an address in which he called for mandatory life sentences for all illegal drug dealers. This is around the same time that the War on Drugs officially began. Most states followed New York's example and in the mid 1980s most states were out of space to house all their prisoners. As a response to running out of space, new prisons were built mainly in depressed areas in almost every state. They were seen as creating jobs in communities that lacked resources. In addition to the new prisons, legislature made it possible for prisoners in other states to serve their sentences in any state, creating a de facto interstate commerce of prisoners. Companies sprang up to run the new prisons, thereby creating an entire industry dependent on the filling of these new prisons. Transport companies were created to transport prisoners from state to state. To recap, laws were changed and made increasingly Draconian by individuals like Richard Nixon and Nelson Rockefeller. These laws increased the number of prisoners. In turn, more prisons were built. As these prisons continued to grow, they were privatized. As a result of privatization, the incentive is to keep all of the cells full.

How does this source contribute to my research: This source explains the origin of the Prison Industrial Complex in the United States. It directly answers the question of how this system was started in the US. The source shines light on the step by step process that was involved in creating this industry. Changing laws, introducing mandatory minimum sentences, building more prisons and keeping them full.

Source Two:

Fowler, Deborah. “School Discipline Feeds the ‘Pipeline to Prison.’” The Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 93, no. 2, 2011, pp. 14–19. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23048938. Accessed 19 Nov. 2020.

What Does the Source Say: This source describes the "School to Prison Pipeline." According to the article, more and more schools are penalizing students with misdemeanor tickets for things that used to involve a trip to the principals office. In response to some highly publicized incidents of school violence, most school districts have developed what is called a "zero tolerance policy." This policy has outsourced discipline in schools to the courts. Once a young person is involved with the courts and has a criminal record, their chances of spending time in prison in their lifetime grows exponentially. The zero tolerance policy disproportionately effects Black students and students with disabilities. When students are suspended or expelled, they are also at a greater chance of prison in their lifetime. These are usually students that are already at risk, suspension or expulsion sees them fall even further behind. Many students are now receiving Class Three Misdemeanor tickets for things like disorderly conduct, disruption of class and truancy. These tickets force a student to appear in court before a judge and often carry fines and/or community service. In this ticketing process, Black and special education students are overrepresented. This is not related to a disciplinary problem exclusive to Black children, rather a disparity between white and Black students being punished for the same minor offenses. In other words, infractions that may result in tickets for a student are equally as prevalent between races, black students are just far more likely to be punished than their white peers.

How does this source contribute to my research: This source identifies the "school to prison pipeline" and how it functions. The source describes the change in school discipline that has introduced zero tolerance policies and armed police to public schools. This source helps to answer my research question of "What is the school to prison pipeline?" by outlining how school discipline and suspension or expulsion directly increase the chances of a student spending time in prison.

Source Three: JEFFERSON-BULLOCK, JALILA. “Taking a Closer Look: A Case for Sentencing Reform.” Federal Sentencing Reporter, vol. 28, no. 3, 2016, pp. 221–224. JSTOR,  www.jstor.org/stable/26376992. Accessed 19 Nov. 2020 .

What does the source say: This article is about the need for reform in sentencing laws in the United States. According to the article, now is the time for reform in these laws. By and large, lawmakers now agree that prisons are overcrowded and that offenders are not being rehabilitated. Too much money is being spent housing too many prisoners. There is also widespread agreement that sentences are racially biased. Despite this evidence and the views of the vast majority, some lawmakers contend that sentencing does not need reform. Widespread evidence that there is no link between crime rates and imprisonment has not changed the views of these lawmakers, who contend that more punishment equals less crime. This viewpoint is countered by data of recidivism rates. Of individuals released from prison in the US in 2005, 68% were rearrested within three years and 77% were rearrested within five years. The author argues that the way the prison system is functioning actually leads to a reduction in public safety. "Modern-day incarceration lacks fairness and inappropriately utilizes lengthy criminal sentences to achieve retribution." 62% of judges who responded to a survey in 2010 said that sentences across all offenses were too high and unfair. The Judicial Conference of the United States has labeled mandatory minimum sentences as producing sentences that are excessively harsh relative to the gravity of the offense.

How does this source contribute to my research: This source contributes to my research by identifying a main cause of prison overcrowding in the United States: mandatory minimum sentences. Mandatory minimums, as identified in an earlier source, are mandatory terms placed on some crimes, regardless of circumstance. Most lawmakers, even the ones that were responsible for the Crime Bill of the 1994, now recognize these sentencing laws to be a mistake that do more harm than good.

Source Four: Ufheil-Somers, Amanda, and Chris Toensing. “FROM THE EDITORS.” Middle East Report, no. 275, 2015, pp. 1–3. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24426574. Accessed 19 Nov. 2020.

What does the source say: America leads the world in incarceration. 2.3 million people in the United States, 7% of the population, are presently behind bars. On a global list of top incarcerators, individual US states make up the first 38 spots. 716 people out of every 100,000 are incarcerated in the United States. By contrast, 121 per 100,000 are incarcerated in China, a country with four times the population. Prison populations have exploded since the mid 1980s with the introduction of mandatory minimum sentences, aggressive policing and three strikes laws. This rapid growth in incarceration has actually coincided with decreased rates of violent crime, meaning more people are now being incarcerated for nonviolent offenses. One in every 35 adults in the US is on probation or parole. According to 2010 census data, there are 4,916 incarceration facilities in the United States. They are both public and private. Even with this enormous number of jails and prisons, many states still do not have enough prison space. California, North Dakota, and Illinois are operating prisons at 150% of capacity. This kind of crowding leads to increased prison violence and also the increased spread of contagious diseases. In 2000, census data suggests that at least 81,000 prisoners in the US were being held in solitary confinement. Some US prisons are used only for housing inmates in solitary confinement. These are called Administrative Maximum Security Penitentiaries. While most prisons include space for solitary confinement, these ADX prisons contain only cells for solitary confinement. Many of the prisons in the US are now run by for profit businesses. Private prisons are able to save costs to state governments by cutting costs in prisoner services.

How does this source contribute to my research: This source brings the stark reality of incarceration in the United States into focus. By focusing on pure numbers and statistics of people incarcerated, we begin to see the enormous scope of this problem. This article further examines one of the darkest parts of American incarceration: solitary confinement. This article further explains how US prisons became so overcrowded; through privatization and the introduction of three strikes laws and mandatory minimum sentences, along with aggressive policing in underserved communities.

Source Five: Stelloh, Tim.  “California’s Great Prison Experiment.” The Nation, June 5, 2013, accessed November 19, 2020

What does this source say: In 2006, the California prison system that was designed to hold 80,000 prisoners was holding more than 160,000 people. In response to two different lawsuits filed by prisoners, California was ordered to shrink its prison population by 30,000 by 2013. With this court decision, California began "the realignment", an overhaul of its 33 prisons. As part of the realignment "tens of thousands of low-level offenders would be kept in their hometowns, instead of being shipped to state prisons." Between 1984 and 2006 California had built 23 new state prisons. In this time the prison population grew from 34,000 to 173,000 people. The racial demographic of Californias prisons in this time shifted from majority white to majority Black, as the number of people incarcerated for drug possession and drug sales more than tripled. As the prison population rose, so did the cost of housing prisoners. To make up for the lost funds, programs like substance abuse treatment, education and good healthcare options were cut from Californias prisons. This had a devastating effect. Thee recidivism rate in California in 2006 was 66%. Prisoners were dying of preventative diseases and health problems due to lack of access to care. As a result of the realignment plan, more than 25,000 prisoners were released from state facilities by 2012. Parolees were no longer sent back to state prisons for technical violations. Counties were told to decide what to do with low level offenders on a case by case basis. The only problem is that most counties lack the funds for this. Much as was the case with "deinstitutionalization", which was the closure of mental health institutions and the subsequent release of people with serious mental health issues into the community. The ACLU called realignment "little more than a shell game, moving prisoners around to look like the number has been reduced." Although many California counties are experimenting with increased use of house arrest, ankle monitors, rehab programs and reduced sentences for nonviolent offenses, the state continues to build new prison facilities. Medical care in these facilities remains woefully inadequate.

How does this source contribute to my research: This source further contributes to my research by again underlining the uptick in prisoners from the 1980s to today due to harsh sentencing laws. This source takes California as a microcosm for the national problem of The Prison Industrial Complex. This source also shows that there are available solutions to this problem but they require vast amounts of money to enact change.

Source Six: Stevenson, Bryan. "Why American Prisons Owe Their Cruelty to Slavery", The New York Times, August 4, 2019, accessed December 6, 2020

What does this source say: In America's most violent and abusive prison, prisoners are forced to pick crops. Angola is a prison in Southern Louisiana that sits on land that used to be plantations. Prisoners work in gangs in the fields and are supervised by gun-toting guards on horses. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. In the early 1970s, our prisons held around 300,000 people. Today they hold around 2.2 million, with another 4.5 million on probation or parole. Due to mandatory sentencing laws and disastrous three strikes laws, many inmates at Angola are serving life sentences for things like simple marijuana possession and petty theft. In order to understand why this happened, we need to understand the legacy of slavery. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution ended slavery in the United States. However, it made an exception for those people convicted of a crime. Convict leasing, the process where incarcerated men were leased to businesses and farms, became widespread after the 13th Amendment was ratified. This was simply a way to continue slavery and slave labor. New laws known as "the Black Codes" were introduced in the South to make it easier to convict black people of crimes and therefore provide more free labor for the state and revenue by leasing convicts. This kind of racism was seen continued at the end of the 20th century with the introduction of mandatory minimum sentences, the war on drugs, three strikes laws and trying children as adults. All of these things effect Black Americans disproportionally.

How does this source contribute to my research: This source further contributes to my research by outlining the devastation caused by Draconian laws that keep people in prison longer and that imprison Black Americans at a higher rate than any other. By understanding the racism that is inherent in these laws, we can demand that they are changed. Racism is part of the key to understanding just what the Prison Industrial Complex is and how we can begin to dismantle it.

Source Seven: Bauer, Shane. "The True History of America's Private Prison Industry", Time, September 25, 2018, accessed December 6, 2020

What does this source say: Terrell Don Hutto, founder of the $1.8 billion for-profit prison company CoreCivic, used to run a cotton plantation where Black convicts were forced to work for no pay. At this time, most prisons in the American South were plantations. Hutto's success at running prisons like the plantations of slavery led to investments and to the founding of a corporation that would run prisons in multiple states and sell shares on the stock market, the birth of the modern for-profit prison. In these prisons, profit took the spot of rehabilitation. While the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, it did not do so as punishment for a crime. In the late 19th and early 20th century American South, prisons were the most profitable industry for the South. Prisoners laid railroad tracks and mined coal. Companies that used convicts at the time regularly employed the tactics of slavery to force people to work, including torture. In the early 20th century, Southern states bought plantations of their own and forced prisoners to work on them. This ended the practice of "convict leasing" and allowed the state to profit directly from convict labor. CoreCivic runs some of the most violent prisons in the country. This is because everything about their prisons is about making a profit. They pay their guards a low wage and don't employ enough of them. There are few to no nurses or psychologists in their prisons. These prisons exist to make profits for their shareholders. They do not rehabilitate criminals or serve any public good. They are about profit, not about making the world safer.

How does this source contribute to my research: This source goes to the beginning of the Prison Industrial Complex in the United States. It shows how these systems were first implemented and it shows that they were designed for profit above all else. When a prison is only beholden to its shareholders, that prison is more dangerous for inmates and also for the staff. The origins of this system lie in slavery. Again, this source points to inherent racism in the United States as the driving force behind the Prison Industrial Complex.

Conclusion: Having completed this research, I have learned that the changing of sentencing laws after the onset of the War on Drugs and various crime bills of the 1980s and 90s, the US has seen an explosion in the prison population. Private companies have monetized this crisis by creating new prisons whose entire business model is to keep people incarcerated. I have learned about the school to prison pipeline, which shows that harsher punishments for students for minor infractions in school are increasingly being dealt with by the courts rather than the schools, thereby introducing children to a criminal justice system that is difficult to escape. I have learned about prison overcrowding and how it is the result of draconian sentences for nonviolent crimes and mandatory minimum sentences. This feeds directly into the prison industrial complex, as these laws continue to provide prisoners to private prisons that depend on being full to operate.

What I have learned directly deals with themes we have explored in this class. I have learned about aspects of economics and trade in the money that can be made in incarceration. This problem directly relates to themes of politics and government. This problem deals directly with themes of capitalism as well as populations and migration. I would also say that it relates to hazards and disasters.