The Negative Effects Of Mass Incarceration

“The U.S. houses 5% of the worlds population, while housing 25% of the worlds population” (Alexander, 2011). Statistically, men of color are incarcerated at a much higher rate than their white counterparts. Though prison population has been increasing at exponential rates, there is an invisibility aspect of prisons. When people are incarcerated, they are literally out of sight, which leads to the “out of sight, out of mind” concept, though this happens on a much larger community scale. Though the population may be invisible in some communities, there is plenty of literature and media portrayal of life in prison, which can be used to shape society’s understanding of these institutions. The negative portrayal of people who are, or have been, …show more content…
Policies like the three-strike laws, and different charges on crack cocaine vs. cocaine (where crack cocaine is associated with communities of color), along with heavy police presence in communities of color – mass-incarceration has been able to take place. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the population of people incarcerated, in both state and federal facilities, was 1, 508, 600 sentenced to a year or more (Carson, 2015). It has been well documented that mass-incarceration disproportionately affects communities of color, specifically due to the harsh sentences around drug related offenses (Alexander, 2010; Fellner & Roth, 2000; Travis, 2005; Mauer, 2004; Mauer, …show more content…
Now that prisons and jails, and the people in them, are portrayed as these frightening places, there are opportunities created for people to reinforce these beliefs and perpetuate them. With the creation of these types of events, people are being conditioned as a very young age to remember these institutions, as being scary, this conditions the individual to be fearful of anything associated with prisons, including incarcerated bodies. Similarly, it can be argued that with the portrayal or people of color, and certain policies and practices in place, the fear of Black and Brown bodies is being instilled. A recent example of this is the 2014 shooting of 18 year-old Michael Brown by policeman Darrell Wilson, 28. If followed the case, you will remember the officer claiming Brown had attacked him inside the vehicle. There mere presence of Browns black body, already set certain triggers in Wilson, and already predisposed him to use violence, whether or not Brown “had attacked him