The Effects Of Incarceration

Prisons hide prisoners from society. “If an inmate population is shut in, the free community is shut out, and the vision of men held in custody is, in part, prevented from arising to prick the conscience of those who abide by the social rules” (Sykes, 1958, 8). The prison is an instrument of the state. However, the prison reacts and acts based on other groups in the free community. Some believe imprisonment

The United States’ ever-expanding prison and jail population has brought about many questions regarding the side-effects of mass incarceration, namely involving the effects on the children and families from which those incarcerated are removed. Regardless of the perspectives on the appropriate position of incarceration in the criminal justice system, imprisonment disrupts many positive and nurturing relationships between parents and their children. In fact, more than 1.7 million children have a parent who is incarcerated in a state or federal prison as of 2007 (Glaze & Maruschak, 2008). These youths are at risk for developing behavior and school problems in addition to insecure attachment relationships. Parental incarceration, which may also be coupled with economic disadvantage and inconsistent living arrangements (Geller, Garfinkel, Cooper, & Mincy, 2009) can be an extremely difficult experience for children. It should come as no surprise that families with children suffer economic strain and instability when a parent is imprisoned, considering how each parent in today’s world typically needs to set aside time to earn an income to support their family, and most are unable to support their homes on one income. While it may be considered intrusive to some to intervene in the lives of children and families with incarcerated parents, research has suggested that there are positive societal benefits to intervening in the lives of incarcerated parents and their

The vast societal effects from mass incarceration have caused an increasingly alienated population to form in the U.S., which can be broadly classified in the dual areas of lasting effects and impacts to the family unit. First, the lasting effects of high incarceration rates are that they impact the rights of the convict, particularly African Americans. For example, noted civil rights attorney Michelle Alexander posits that the long term effects of mass incarceration operate to deny black Americans the future right to volte, the ability to obtain public benefits, the possibility to sit on juries, and ultimately the opportunity to secure gainful employment (Steiker, 2011), Moreover, professor Alexander argues that this mass incarceration together with the prior Jim Crow laws and the past practice of slaery in the U.S. operate to ensure that black Americans remain s subordinate class of citizens defined primarily by their race (Steiker, 2011).

In prisons today, rehabilitation, deterrence, incapacitation, and retribution are all elements that provide a justice to society. Prisons effectively do their part in seeing that one if not more of these elements are met and successfully done. If it were not for these elements, than what would a prison be good for? It is highly debated upon whether or not these elements are done properly. It is a fact that these are and a fact that throughout the remainder of time these will be a successful part of prison life.

1. “Collateral consequences” refers to all related and seemingly unintended consequences of something. What are the collateral consequences of mass incarceration, and how do they contribute to inequality? (Chapter 33 Bryan L. Sykes and Becky Pettit: “Mass Incarceration and Family Life” In Other Words: Virginia E. Rutter: “Doing Time = Doing Gender” (Girl w/ Pen!))

The effects of mass incarceration on ethnic minorities are the increased lack of economic opportunity, the discouragement of welfare for people of color, the worsening of racial biases, increased childhood discrimination and the toxicity of internalized stereotypes, and prominent racial disparities that are found in the criminal justice system. Mass incarceration came as a result of the establishment of the private prison industry. The U.S. has a school-to-prison pipeline where kids’ actions can be observed from a young age to help project the amount of needed prison beds.

Historically Americans are taught that prisons are a place to incarcerate people who pose the greatest threat to society: however, with so many minorities being incarcerated is this really true? After watching the documentary, 13th, one can assert that the effects of mass incarceration are systemically imposed on people of color, and felt throughout generations. Incarcerating African-Americans prevents them from the education system, jobs and families. The inheritance of the 13th amendment and slavery are still visible in black communities today, in terms of the education system, jobs, and family structures.

The judicial system has negatively impacted the African American population with mass incarceration, especially for African American women. African American women are being incarcerated at all time high, and there should be a national outcry for these women. When women are incarcerated, she is labeled and stigmatized by their incarceration. Society views incarcerated women as deviant who has gone against social norms. However, research and data has shown that more men are imprisoned, but women serve longer sentences for the same charge. Incarceration is time for self-learning, self-evaluating and self-caring to become a changed person than before entering prison. This is the purpose of incarceration force an individual to

The United States of America has the largest prison population in the world. The United States incarcerates six hundred ninety-three people per one hundred thousand people and boasts an incarceration rate that is almost five times higher than most other countries (Wagner & Walsh, 2016). The incarceration rate within the U.S. is significantly higher than the incarceration rates of other countries due to the prevalence of institutional racism within the American criminal justice system. While the criminal justice system unjustly targets minority individuals, African Americans and Hispanics are especially targeted (Brennan & Spohn, 2009). African Americans and Hispanics account for a minority of the U.S. population but make up the majority of the U.S. prison population. Despite comprising only 13.6% of the U.S. population (Rastogi, Johnson, Hoeffel, and Drewery, 2011), African Americans account for 37.8% of all prisoners in the U.S. (Inmate Race, 2017). Hispanics are also targeted by the criminal justice system at abnormally high rates. Hispanics make up

Mass incarceration has been a problem in America for many years. Prisoners have been charged for wide range of reasons, but drug convictions is one of the highest. The first half of the novel suggest that the mass incarceration impacts the people of color. There are more colored people present in the prisons than white people. This shows that there is a distortion because white people do the same crime as the colored, but they are less likely to get jail time for it. The New Jim Crow suggests that the system is corrupted because colored people are pleading guilty because they fear of making situations worse. This causes more jail time for lesser degree crimes. On the other hand, white people are most likely manage to get away from incarceration.

1..Use Wacquant, Simon and Barlow to discuss the reasons why the numbers of people incarcerated in the U.S. rose by over 500% in the last thirty years. What are the social consequences of mass incarceration for American society? Why is the incarceration rate now declining?

Prison is a facility used to punish those who have committed a crime or detain those who are awaiting trial, it is a building in which people are legally held. The main purpose of imprisonment is to reform, deter and eliminate a threat from society. Marxists see the government as a way for bourgeoisie to maintain their powerful position in society. Althusser argues that the state consists of two elements: the repressive state apparatus (RSA) and the ideological state apparatus. (ISA) Both apparatuses are used to maintain the bourgeoisie in power. The repressive state apparatus uses force; this can be seen through the use of the law enforcement or prisons to maintain power whilst the ideological state apparatus is used by influencing the way people think.

Adjusting to life after incarceration can be a very long and difficult process to overcome. There are many obstacles people face when returning home for the first time in years. Most people generally come home to nothing and have to try to make a life out of it. As an ex-con you face stigma, lack of opportunities and the constant risk of recidivism. Recidivism is the ongoing cycle of incarceration. You continue to be in and out of prison because you cannot successfully re-transition into society. This topic is worth investigating because recidivism is a current problem in the United States and it usually takes place because the justice system fails to prepare their inmates for what life will be like. Rehabilitation is key and because there is a lack of that there is a lack of success in offenders returning home. Young adults should be aware of recidivism because they can easily be sucked into the system and this can happen to them. They can find themselves in a position where they end up in prison and fall victim to recidivism. Questions that will guide this research include:

The theory of incarceration is to “subtract” deficits and problems created by people and their presence in the community, but it tends to have the opposite effect. When you “subtract” individuals from society, you are “adding” several problems that are often not visible.

The tight controls exercised within prisons are both helpful and crippling. One inmate in particular, Roland, admits that he is at fault for ending up in prison but he states that “the punishment itself is excessive” (Rhodes 2004:4). Roland has accepted his faults and wishes that he could’ve been more logical in his choices. When faced with this maltreatment, some inmates like Roland are able to adapt, to play to the system, grow and become something more than when they entered prison. For others, however, more often than not, their solution will be to act out, to further attack the society that they just don't seem to fit into or understand, even from within the four walls and bars of their prison cell. In this instance, punishment appears to be working to rehabilitate, but when taken too far, to extremes as Roland puts it, it can make a person far more illogical than when first incarcerated.