Topic > The Effects of Mass Incarceration and Solutions to It

The United States has a history of policies that have deliberately massively incarcerated Black and Latino Americans disproportionately over the past fifty years. Over the course of those fifty years, the policies implemented were sought by public figures who hid their ulterior motives behind the legislation. Today, not only do multibillion-dollar industries benefit from these long-term policies, but large corporations and lobbyists also profit. With a closer analysis of the policies put in place to incarcerate black and brown people and extremely high rates, one can conclude what lies between the lines of these historic actions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The main issues discussed in the paper begin with the absence of rehabilitation and the lack of conversation about reform. Attention has shifted from the plight of prisoners to their exploitation. Social structures have allowed the prison industrial complex to perpetuate the privatization of prisons as well as the school-prison connection. By looking at the different roles of structures, such as the criminal justice system and the educational institution, you will see how they immediately influence each other. There are numerous ways to change the prison industrial system, but there are three key solutions that can be used as catalysts. It is imperative that we remain attentive to those who represent us and our concerns at the local, state and federal levels. If we can't make our voices heard at the federal level, then it is critical to start at the local level and work our way up. Furthermore, as a society we should focus on private organizations and companies that profit from cheap labor. By knowing this and taking action to change it, for example by boycotting those multinationals, we can put an end to the privatization of prisons. Finally, central to our fight is ending extreme sentencing for misdemeanor crimes, which also disproportionately affects people of color. This will allow us to infuse much-needed fairness into our criminal justice system. With more than 1.6 billion Black men under some type of correctional control, one thing is clear: it's time to act. So the question is: how do we act? A big part of the problem is how we vote. Voting for local politicians can help us change who polices our streets, how they do it, and what their goals are. This type of vigilance should extend to the type of bills and advocacy we vote for to ensure that we are not helping to turn privileged neighborhoods into the only battlegrounds for the “war on crime and drugs (Blacks and Latinos).” We need politicians and legislators in our areas to begin crafting laws that will help dismantle the structures put in place that make this grave injustice not only possible but profitable. One of the most effective solutions would be to take money from the private prison sector. Corrections Corporations of America, the second largest for-profit in the United States, owns more than 50 detention centers ranging from immigration to federal prisons. Many of these prisons have so-called occupancy guarantees that allow the prison to charge the state a fee if they do not reach a certain number of prisoners, with some prisons guaranteed up to 96% occupancy. These prisoners are worth between 3,300 and 18,000 per prisoner per year. This incentivizes lawmakers, judges and officials to lock up offenders for as long as possible for even the most trivial crimes, all.