The incarceration of people in the United States has skyrocketed with approximately one percent of Americans in either a state or federal prison. According to the Washington Post the prison population in America alone is 2.4 million, quadrupling since 1980. The United States is the second highest when it comes to people in jail per capita. In 2012 there were 707 people in prison for every 100,000 residents in America. This means that one out of every 100 American adults is in jail. The issue has gotten so bad that it’s now affecting children. Sesame Street recently created an episode to explain Incarceration with a new character named Alex whose dad is in jail. As they describe why adults go to prison, the friends on Sesame Street try to comfort Alex.
However, parents being incarcerated isn't the only problem with the criminal justice system. The racial inequality in the system is still evident today. The statistics of Learn Liberty states that whites make up 64 percent of the population in the United States and 31 percent of them in incarcerated. Hispanics comprise 16 percent of the population and 24 percent are incarcerated. African Americans make up 14 percent of the population and 36 percent are incarcerated, and according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, one in three black men go to prison in the United States. African Americans are also three times more likely to searched during a traffic stop, and police are four times more likely to use violence against an African American.
The Bureau of Justice also conducted a study of sexual harassment in prison. The results were overwhelming. Nearly 10 percent of prisoners are sexually abused, and of the 8,763 victims of sexual harassment between 2009 and 2011, 49 percent of them involved prison staff members. Sexual abuse and other problems with the criminal justice system brings thoughts of suicides in the minds of many prisoner, making suicide the leading causes of death. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 185 prisoners committed suicide in 2011.
The United States is supposed to be a land where all people no matter their ethnicity, race, religion, or gender are equal. The statistics of incarceration prove there is a biased in the criminal justice system, and based on the information the inequality of prisoners today, this biased will not disappear. Prisons are meant to a give criminals a deserving punishment. Prisons are supposed to affect the lives of inmates in a positive manner. Prisons aren't supposed to end lives.
Learn more about the Mass Incarceration in the US here.
