Analysis Of Masked Racism And The Prison Industrial Complex By Angela Davis

The Color Of Mass Incarceration

The criminal justice system in America is designed to provide a system of justice to protect all of us. Victims of crime rightly seek relief in the courts. If the system of justice were perfect, our prisons would be filled with convicts representing the racial diversity of America. Convicts would serve their sentences and be rehabilitated with the possible release if they met the conditions for it. Unfortunately, the facts reveal a growing problem in America that may be tied to a system that disproportionately incarcerates people of color, many of whom are suffering in the life circumstances that land them in prison. In Angela Davis’s compelling article entitled, “Masked Racism: Reflections on the Prison Industrial Complex,” she brings to light many issues where government and society has failed and how the cost of the prison system that is not saving or rehabilitating people.

Illiteracy, mental illness, drug addiction, unemployment and homelessness are problems that come under one title, crime and are often associated with people of color. Angela Davis mentioned in her article that prisons are not a solution to the problem, in fact, prisons are causing more violence as civil rights are being destroyed because of increasing number of prisons. The law imposing authorities consider putting more individuals from immigrant, poor, and racially marginalized communities as an easy solution to the problem. However, this only creates hatred among the discriminated societies, and people outside the prisons feel that illiteracy, mental illness, drug addiction, unemployment and homelessness have reduced, which is not the actual scenario.

This may be the reason why a large number of people behind bars belong to various ethnicities, but the justice system does not realize the impact this has on the future of these inmates. The purpose of the justice system is to rehabilitate prisoners and offer them a life of betterment when they are released instead of using them as scapegoats to improve their facts and figures. Michelle Alexander, in “A System of Racial and Social Control,” states that mass incarceration exists whether we acknowledge it or not. It is a system that aims to control racial and social control. Following this process, people can be branded criminals and felons. They may be locked up behind bars for longer than the crime they have committed and more than in other countries; when they are released back into the normal world, these people are stripped of their rights, such as the right to vote and from then on are considered second class citizens, the right to welfare is also taken away from them.

Davis further states that prisons do not eradicate the problems. In fact, they disappear human beings, and often, these people belong to poor immigrants of colored backgrounds. According to a study, “1 in 3 black men will spend time behind bars during their lifetime, compared with 1 in 6 Latino men and 1 in 17 white men. Arrest rates for marijuana possession are four times as high for black Americans as for whites. Black men spend an average of 20 percent longer behind bars in federal prisons than their white peers for the same crimes.”

Davis also states in her article, in reference when presenting an analysis of Masked Racism and the Prison Industrial Complex, she further states that two million are at this moment behind bars, and 70% of these two million belong to an ethnic background other than white. She further states that the fastest growing group of prisoners belong to the black community and are women. Michelle Alexander, in “A System of Racial and Social Control,” describes this as a result of mass incarceration and traces the issue back to the 1950s and 1960s. She states that this was a method used to curb the civil rights movement; therefore, they started labeling people as lawbreakers and criminals on the basis of their involvement in nonviolent protests and civil disobedience. Moreover, they were of the view that those having involvements in activities that resulted in violation of segregation laws were getting involved in reckless behavior that was threatening the social order and demanding a crackdown against the civil rights protesters and lawbreakers.

Prison profit is also a thing, and according to Davis, the large number of people from ethnic minorities behind bars has a lot to do with profits; she states that prisons have profit potential, and this plays a crucial part in the economy of the United States, we understand that this is a disturbing concept. Furthermore, she states that this strategy is dependent on “racist structures” and “ideologies” ” She also states that the most obvious reason for this instance is prison privatization. These prisons are also less accountable for their actions. Private prisons accumulate an estimated 128,195 inmates they do this instead of the government or on their behalf. There is currently an ongoing debate as to who is more cost-effective. States like California, Arizona and Texas use a combination of both private and public prisons.

There are nine states, according to Petrella, which facilitate a higher number of those people who are of ethnic backgrounds as compared to public prisons. She further states in her study that the reason behind these figures is that those who require higher medical care are automatically excluded from private prisons, and they prefer inmates who are young and healthy, and most of these inmates have been in prison since the war on drugs was initiated this is why these are mostly people of color.

The older inmates who have been in for a longer time and have health issues are often white. Steve Owens, senior director of public affairs for Corrections Corp. of America, one of the largest private prison companies in the nation, calls the study “deeply flawed.” He further states that the decisions about inmates that are sent to the correction facilities are taken by the government partners of the Corrections Corporation of America, and there is no role of CCA in such decisions. Moreover, he explains that the contracts that CCA has with the government partners are mutually agreed upon, and as the customer, government partners have significant leverage regarding provisions. According to him, making decisions about the distribution of inmates and management of care costs is the right of the contracting agency.

Prisoners are seen as a commodity, and they tend to take in people who are likely to be less costly to them, even though Browne-Marshall disagrees and says the main motive is not race but profit. Petrella is determined that race plays an integral part, and this is why private prisons are largely held with people with Latin and black backgrounds. She also states that the prison conditions are different for different ethnic groups. So, from the above stated, it can be concluded that using studies and articles, we can make a solid argument that private and government prisons are largely holding people of colored backgrounds as inmates. The reason for this is firstly due to mass incarnation, which dates back to Nixon, and the purpose of this was to keep the civil rights movement under control by throwing black people into prison by declaring them violent and a threat to society. A further reason was the war on drugs; a war on drugs was declared, and due to which blacks were imprisoned, the actual game behind the war on drugs was again to uphold segregation. Another article states that the reason for the racial advancement behind bars is due to the profits they bring. They are often young and healthy, require less money to be spent, and can often be profitable to the private owners.

Women’s prisons in California identified a lack of access to medical information and treatment as a significant problem. Speaking about the conditions in the California Witnesses Women’s Prisoners reported that the doctor was waiting for weeks and waiting for weeks to have the recipes replenished. For women with heart disease, diabetes, and asthma, Such delays can cause cancer, conviction and HIV / excipients, causing severe medical or premature death difficulties. Chapman wanted to live for ten years, and access to medical treatment was refused. When he got treatment, he had a double mastectomy, and then ten months became a hysterectomy. Although cancer has been evaluated on the head and neck during the cancer session, it has repeatedly rejected the pain to manage many.

It is likely to be a crime and return to the prison. So tonight, I will recommend a four-year initiative to re-integrate the penitentiary in the amount of 300 million. Rec. Extend jobs on training and employment services in the field of business, provision of housing throughout the transition period and mentoring of prisoner prisoners, including belief-based groups. At present, the pricing of the private industry seems to be economical and from the desires of an” emotionally conservative “program of work for its GEO company and the CCA-created religious programs. According to GEO, “When a criminal converts to its value system, it changes its behavior. Religious programs are important for the rehabilitation of the offender.” Every marketing agency is almost on a regular basis, regulating and coordinating the religious program to ensure sufficient conviction and representation of all convictions.

It is required that the “prison industrial complex” be reviewed due to the confusion of many participants, extending its interests and increasing the number of people who have an impact on them. Just as an industry is expanding its markets, champions need to understand and understand the complexity of the transaction. Developing an understanding of the profound sociological and cultural roots of the fight against crime, the resistance position against. The expansion of precise control mechanisms in the form of government and the ongoing reform can continue to be aimed at discouraging social inequality, releasing social imbalance and further prevention. I hope this dissertation is the basis for future action. At a more practical level, research in the future, as well as the development of the prison industry, should investigate the effects of conditional release and conditional release of these activities in private prison activities. When private companies are being regulated or ashamed, the number of political and parish cases will cause people to increase or reduce prisons. Also, it is worth considering the issue of employing a prisoner. Private companies identify crimes that reflect technology (which is owned and used by private companies) and redirect criminals.

Mass incarceration does not solve unemployment, nor does it endure a solution to the large array of social issues hidden behind a fast-growing network of prisons. But, most people are being tricked into actually believing that prisons are good for rehabilitation even though studies find that this is not,, in fact,, the case as inmates released from prison mostly return back to prison because they are unable to find a job or place to stay. We do not believe in racism and this is the reason why we fail to consider this as a discourse, this is why no one contests the ideology proposed in the article by Davies, we have been wired to believe that prisons benefit the public safety. The focus of state policy is rapidly shifting from social welfare to social control. Black, Latino, Native American, and many Asian youth are said to initiate violence and crimes and are often seen as the bad guys, the women of these ethnic backgrounds are stated to be sexually corrupt indulging in criminal activities and therefore surveillance is often addressed to these communities. We are molded to believe that these communities can only be changed via imprisonment. However, this is a failed idea.

The statements and strategies used to stimulate the operational privatization of prisons aim to capture more raw materials (people). The nation suffered from severe economic hazards and put it into the war for the murder of the budget. The levels of fear are high, the unemployment rate is growing, and the country is politically polished. Some of the unions point to the head on economic issues and are shown as the disaster of traditional Christian manners and values and the lack of individual accountability, poverty, and crime. At the same time, federal states, states, and governments are fighting again. Financing all aspects of a full, private and public rehabilitation system is becoming a challenge for the US administration. As for regulation, private companies have agreed that any changes to the drugs or immigration laws or the total deposit, the deprivation will result in freedom as the best method of control of the financial situation of the companies. Therefore, the “raw material” means they were back on the list of “new crises” regarding the conditions selected: they carefully considered the requirements of the “conservative rhetoric”: mental health, conditional expulsion, lower power, paradox, and repeat. Refurbishes, criminals and professionals dedicated to ideas, choosing a language of modern remedies. Resistant “solutions” are praised rapidly using a recognized story of the private sector.

Works Cited

Alexander, Michelle https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/michelle-alexander-a-system-of- racial-and- social-control/

Alexander, Michelle. The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. The New Press, 2012.

Crenshaw, Kimberlé W. “From private violence to mass incarceration: Thinking intersectionally about women, race, and social control.” UCLA L. Rev. 59 (2011): 1418.

Cullen, Francis T., Cheryl Lero Jonson, and Daniel S. Nagin. “Prisons do not reduce recidivism: The high cost of ignoring science.” The Prison Journal 91.3_suppl (2011): 48S-65S.

Davis, Angela, http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/davisprison.html

Mazza, Brittney. “Women and the prison industrial complex: The criminalization of gender, race, and class in the war on drugs.” Dialogues Journal 5 (2011): 79-90.

Palta, Rina https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/03/13/289000532/why-for-profit-prisons-house-more-inmates-of-color

Pommels, Michaela, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/michaela-pommells/study-more-people-of- color_b_4826086.html