Overview and History of Area: The "Prison District" of Baltimore, Maryland, is located primarily in an unincorporated community called Townson. With a population of just under 60,000 it is the second most densely populated unincorporated county seat in the United States. The community is located just north of Baltimore City, inside the I-695 and I-83 beltway and has several major neighborhood areas. In the larger area of Townson, the per capita income is about $32,000, but almost 10% of the population is below the poverty line (2010 Cenus U.S. Gazetter, 2011). Moving into the neighborhood in question, however, the overall population density increases as well as the poverty level of those who actually live in the area.
Ethnographic Observations:
Name of Town: Prison District Area, subsection of Townson, MD
Population approximately 5-8L
Demographic Overview Low income housing, high percentage of African America, number of row houses potentially converted for business. Some evidence of mixed economics between run-down and gentrification projects. Very few business professionals walking, mostly urban poor.
Housing and Zoning Crowded, lots of brick and cement; few parks, cars parked very closely together on street. Some areas show severe urban blight.
Open Space Relatively no open spaces; some parks, crowded urban environment.
Boundaries Significant, suburbs outside the area more upscale, trendy and gentrified, bedroom community outside this inner city area.
Commons
Andersonville Prison epitomized the ultimate crime against humanity. The atrocities that transpired in this confederate prison sparked reaction and outrage at the conclusion of the Civil War.
The book explores the effect of mass incarceration on low-income areas, poverty places, and poor demographics. It explains that the high incarceration has a direct correlation to social problems of individuals that happen within these communities. It shows statistics of these poverty places having an increase in percentage of being sent to prison. I plan to use this in my research by providing the audience information on how individuals and citizens of communities
On May 4 1920 at the school of Washington high they were preparing for their field trip to the Washington prison. The principal was trying to scare the kids so they don’t go to prison. They began the ride on the bus and talked the whole way, they finally go there and there were giant walls around the prison. All the kids wondered why they needed walls that high. Then a man named Jim walked out and smiled he said he was going to be giving them there tour.
In the early twentieth century, East Liberty was a flourishing business district with affordable housing for its residents. Decades later, this neighborhood’s prosperity declined as residents began fleeing to other areas and businesses were forced to shut down. This left East Liberty in diminished conditions, like the conditions depicted in John Edgar Wideman’s story of Homewood in Our Time. Urban renewal efforts were quickly adopted for East Liberty, but these efforts failed. Today, the area is in a state of continuous revitalization, which is beneficial for the economy and some citizens, but African Americans don’t always benefit from these changes. Chris Ivy explores this division in his documentary Easy of Liberty. Failed urban renewal efforts of the sixties and continuing gentrification have transformed East Liberty’s booming business district into a racially divided neighborhood.
Florida, CityLab Richard. “This Is What Happens After a Neighborhood Gets Gentrified.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 16 Sept. 2015,
This report will be on the research I have discovered first hand as well as through statistical data that compares and contrasts the neighborhoods of Greenbush and Burke Heights, both located in Madison, Wisconsin. When researching these two neighborhoods, I focused on the neighborhoods housing statistics, demographics of their residents, and the money circulating within the neighborhoods. Another aspect I paid attention to while comparing the neighborhoods was the economic and employment opportunities available within the communities. These benefits directly correlate to the amount of capital that is available for residents. Lastly, I took note of the entertainment, retail, and physical possibilities that prevailed in these neighborhoods.
The study of urban spaces, especially with respect to gentrification, has increased dramatically in significance and relevance in the past several decades. With the resurgence of city living’s popularity, urban revitalization has occurred in neighborhoods across the United States and brought with it significant economic and social change.
The Andersonville Prison, was opened on February 1864. This prison was originally planned to only have 10,000 prisoners, but there ended up being 45,000 prisoners here. This means that they were badly overcrowded.The prison is surrounded by a light fence that they call the “Deadline,” it is used to keep prisoners away from the walls. The government could not provide to their needs like they should. Prisoners did not have medical care, food, clothes, or housing. They eventually skeletonized and died. Almost 13,000 people died here. There was over 45000 Union soldiers confined here.
The American state prison was developed in the 19th century. The prison, named as the national penitentiary, holding over 800 prisoners separated in cells, allowed prisoners to socialize in the course of the day. Prisoners were assigned simple tasks such as weaving. The penitentiary is still used in the modern American world but has been expanded because it was initially created to house 500 prisoners. The operations of the penitentiary were based on the system of solitary confinement (Beckett & Herbert, 2010).
This article is about a pastor who was arrested on Tuesday in Magnolia. He is accused of sexually assaulted a young girl. The Montgomery Country Sherriff’s detectives arrested him, and they think that there could be more victims, because he let his church from different locations around Houston. The detectives, prosecutors and the MCSO SWAT team raided the Body Of Christ Ministry Church. They apprehended Ronald Mitchell who has 56 year-old. The police found in the house of the church a lot of weapons and ammunitions. The MCSO SWAT team made the arrest and it is held in the Montgomery Country Jail on a $250,000 bond.
Gentrification, by definition, is the process of renovating and improving a house or district to appeal to the middle class. This “process” is very dangerous as it has a notorious reputation of displacing old residents and creating terrible living situations for those it has not displaced. It allows the deconstruction of communities of color, the suffering of local businesses, and the decrease in the public health of residents. Generally, gentrification affects the lower classes ability to live a healthy life by exploiting their ability to afford a means of survival.
President Obama has been on a mission to reform the United States Jails and Federal Prisons. The number of incarcerations have been on the rise since 1980 and it continues to quadruple. State and federal prisons are over crowed with non-violent offenses. With overcrowded jails it has caused the economy more money and created dangerous living environments. Instead of incarceration what should be given is a realistic alternative for their actions. The government will also spend less money.
What is the cause of such an infestation as the corruption in the Maryland corrections system? The answer lies in the lives of those involved. Generally speaking, it will always come down to the morals, beliefs, and needs of the individual who is faced with the opportunity to become corrupt. Individuals who are employed by the corrections system are, in reality, mercenaries employed by the system to guard and control the inmate populations.
A mix of housing age, old houses ( 40-100 years old predominant) and new housing developments
Urban sprawl is quite commonplace in most suburban communities and usually make way for many problems alongside it. With residents come needs of the people such as work spaces, commercial centres and institutions. While although the community of Morningside Heights may be abundant in many things such as institutions and industrial land, the focus on dealing with urban sprawl has led to the lack of focus on other needs of a community. Here, a large influx of people coming into the community without enough residential area to sustain a rapidly growing population. As much as the community has been expanding into the area which was once a golf club, there is not enough land, or money to build housing to sustain the number of people coming in. In addition there is the problem of the environmental impact; habitats being destroyed for the sake of this housing.