US Mass Incarceration

The United States of America is known globally for being the land of the free, the land of voting rights, and the land where all people have the right to achieve success regardless of their upbringing. Unfortunately, greed, social circumstances, and political gain have created a human rights vacuum in which over 2 million US citizens are not free, they are enslaved by the Prison Industrial Complex. Mass incarceration in the United States is an unsettling phenomenon that allows for the systemic disenfranchisement of predominately Black and Brown low socioeconomic status (SES) men and teenagers. Nongovernment organizations are working toward criminal justice reform, so the justice system is more fair for all US citizens.

Links to additional relevant NGOs

Ideas for helping out with the issue

  1. Humanize prisoners to reduce rates of re-incarceration.
  2. Remove legislation that promotes racial profiling.
  3. Fund schools better in low income, colored communicates with high crime rates.

Pratt, Travis C. Addicted to Incarceration: Corrections Policy and the Politics of Misinformation in the United States. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2009. Print. Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: New, 2012. Print. https://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/agitation/prisons/poetry/ General: Arts in US Prisons.” The Prison Arts Coalition. N.p., 20 Oct. 2015. Web. 04 Feb. 2017. http://www.middlegroundprisonreform.org/ (NGO) Del Valle, Esteban. P. I. C. T. U. R. E. S Prison Industrial Complex: Tyranny Undermining Rights, Education and Society. 2014. Brownsville. The Sentencing Project.” The Sentencing Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2017. 13th. Dir. Ava DuVernay. Netflix, 7 Oct. 2016. Web. Sargent, Antwaun. “Confronting America’s Shameful Mass Incarceration with Art.” The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 10 Dec. 2015. Web. 05 Feb. 2017. “Mass Incarceration in the USA.” Amnesty International USA. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2017. Aclu.org. American Civil Liberties Union, 2017. Web. 3 Feb. 2017. The Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights. Miriam Hospital/The Alpert Medical School of Brown University, 2017. Web. 4 Feb. 2017. Prison Activist Resource Center. “Home.” Facebook. Facebook, 2017. Web. 2 Feb. 2017. Vlogbrothers [Hank Green]. “Mass Incarceration in the US.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 4 April 2014. Web. 2 Feb. 2017. Prison Policy Initiative. Peter Wagner, 2017. Web. 2 Feb. 2017. Michelle Alexander. “Home.” Michelle Alexander. Facebook. Facebook, 2017. Web. 2 Feb. 2017 Inmate Race Statistics. Rep. Federal Bureau of Prisons, 24 Dec. 2016. Web. 2 Feb. 2017. Data Collection: National Prisoner Statistics (NPS) Program. Rep. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2015. Web. 2 Feb. 2017. West, Cornel, Dr., and Carl Dix. “Calendar of Events.” Stoppoliceterror.org. The Stop Mass Incarceration Network, 2017. Web. 2 Feb. 2017. Poulos, Christopher. “Stories: Christopher Poulos.” Sentencingproject.org. The Sentencing Project, n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2017.

Testimonials

“Love departs in shortest moment of trial Peace and joy flee too in its denial This steel cage is now your proper place The demon of self alone to face” -Anonymous California Prisoner 2006

US Mass Incarceration
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