In the United States the current prison population is 2.3 million, however the United States only holds 5 percent of the world’s population which means the United States holds 25 percent of the prison population. African Americans make up roughly 12-13 percent of the world’s population but 35 percent of the prison population. United States’ prisons are a huge privatised industry that make big companies millions, and are still being used by politicians to hurt minorities. In this paper I will discuss the racially motivated laws, policies, and effects of the American prison system.
The laws surrounding our prison system appear to be in place to protect and rehabilitate citizens. However these laws were not put in place to protect and rehabilitate citizens, but to punish harshly. The Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution states “Neither slavery nor servitude, except as a punishment for a crime…” this has allowed politicians to enslave those who do not matter to our society in prisons. This problem started after the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, former slaves were almost immediately arrested for simple crimes such as loitering and were forced back into labor without pay for life. However the spike of this problem came with the crack cocaine epidemic, in the early eighties president Reagan was called to crack down on drug use, he and those in the government increased spending on law enforcement, prisons, and any factors surrounding drugs. After Reagan came Nixon, who really reinforced the hard law and order presidency America wanted, this …show more content…
An example of this is a club filled with both conservative politicians and companies called ALEC or American Legislative Exchange Council. This private club holds most of the companies associated with prisons, such as the CCA which is a 1.7 billion dollar business that provides most of the things prisoners
The laws surrounding our prison system appear to be in place to protect and rehabilitate citizens. However these laws were not put in place to protect and rehabilitate citizens, but to punish harshly. The Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution states “Neither slavery nor servitude, except as a punishment for a crime…” this has allowed politicians to enslave those who do not matter to our society in prisons. This problem started after the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, former slaves were almost immediately arrested for simple crimes such as loitering and were forced back into labor without pay for life. However the spike of this problem came with the crack cocaine epidemic, in the early eighties president Reagan was called to crack down on drug use, he and those in the government increased spending on law enforcement, prisons, and any factors surrounding drugs. After Reagan came Nixon, who really reinforced the hard law and order presidency America wanted, this …show more content…
An example of this is a club filled with both conservative politicians and companies called ALEC or American Legislative Exchange Council. This private club holds most of the companies associated with prisons, such as the CCA which is a 1.7 billion dollar business that provides most of the things prisoners