The United States is in the midst of one of the biggest human rights crises since the civil rights movement. In fact, some would argue that the civil rights movement is still occurring because people of color are still battling the US government in order to obtain their most basic human rights. Currently there are 2.2 million people incarcerated in the United States(ACLU.org) at this time, this number is higher than any other country in the world. This is particularly alarming seeing as the United States population is upwards of 326 million (Census.org), this means that 67 percent of the country’s population is currently incarcerated. It has also been statistically proven that the country’s black population is severely overrepresented in the penal system(PrisonPolicy.org). Anyone paying attention should realize that we have a serious problem with our judicial system, and it should be our first priority to make sure that our fellow American’s are not oppressed. 

In a 2017 interview on Fox News, Ben Stein, a former presidential speechwriter, made clear his disagreement with kneeling NFL players saying, “...yes, there’s racism in every human being’s heart. There’s no institutional racism in America anymore.”, this is the battle cry of many far right politicians and people(Breitbart.com). However, that statement is far from the truth. Institutional racism is defined as, “Racial discrimination that has become established as normal behaviour within a society or organization,”(OxfordDictionaries.com). The United States is in now experiencing exactly that. Complete and utter disregard of people and their inalienable rights is rampant in the judicial system. According to Issues.org, “black men are sentenced on drug charges at a rate that is more than 13 times higher than white men”. This goes to show that there is often bias that supports the hypothesis that the American criminal justice system is racist and has always had a higher rate of arrest towards people of color. People argue that there is not racism in our country and it is not acceptable but there are many reasons and solid sources and facts that prove that the statement is not only false but a lie. 

Mass incarceration and the overrepresentation of black people in the prison system is what many have described as a new, legal, form of slavery. Think of another country who has more than half of their population locked in a prison cell, most not being fed and medicated in a humane way, some not getting any physical activity or time outside, and some away from their children and family not being able to support them. An essay by Kali Nicole Gross she states that, “indeed, 68 percent of incarcerated black women had been victimized by intimate-partner violence, and, compared to white women, black women are twice as likely to be killed by a spouse”(The Journal of American History 32). With these numbing facts, the reader must think about how the women, who we know are needed and considered the backbone of society and families, are being killed at severely high rates. These same women face very rough prison conditions. One disturbing study showed that  “One psychologist examining 100 inmates in Pelican Bay, California Security Housing Unit found “serious psychological disturbances in nearly every prisoner” in that “more than 70 percent exhibited symptoms of ‘impending nervous breakdown’; more than 40 percent suffered from hallucinations; 27 percent had suicidal thoughts.,”(The Culture of Mass Incarceration). When thinking about people being locked in a windowless room for days, weeks, months, and even years on end, one can only imagine the deep psychological pain and scarring a person could experience. The inhumanity of the prison system in the United States is something that the citizens of this nation should be profoundly concerned about. 

The mentality that I have always run into is that of the “lock them up and throw away the key” saying. This saying is basically an approval of former president Bill Clinton’s plan to give people three strikes and no plan for reformation while in jail. For example, you commit a crime and you repeat the same crime twice, you go to jail for the maximum sentence, however, the first two times no one tries to help you or figure out why you did what you did, they simply do not care. The policy was originally to stop a crime wave but instead helped nudge mass incarceration into full effect. This is a particularly toxic mentality that should not be tolerated or believed, the more we incarcerate and do not rehabilitate the more likely we are to promote crime instead of prevent it. There are many simple ways to improve the way we look at prison reform and rehabilitation of criminals. “At the federal level, several educational and apprenticeship programs are offered to assist inmates in later obtaining advanced degrees and the necessary job skills to find employment on the outside,”(The Culture of Mass Incarceration). This is something that US government should think about investing in. Not only is it a way to improve how jails and prisons operate and how inmates are prepared for work post-release, it also creates jobs. While my uncle was in jail, he participated in a shop class that got him a certificate in welding, again all of this is just bettering and educating a broken society. 

Not only is the mental health of the inmate directly affected by being incarcerated it also affects the mental health of their children. According to the Washington Post in an article on mass incarceration and the racial achievement gap, “The number of children affected has grown to the point that we can reasonably infer that our criminal justice system is making an important contribution to the racial achievement gap in both cognitive and noncognitive skills,”(WashingtonPost.com). If you don’t see the pattern yet, you have not been paying attention. The parents are more likely to be incarcerated, and when they are incarcerated their children’s development and achievement is stunted. 

Which brings me to my next argument, the argument that “everyone has a choice” and that everyone has the same opportunity it’s all in the choice you make. This argument sends chills up my spine everytime I hear someone say it. It makes no sense, did Donald Trump and Trayvon Martin have the same opportunities? No, one got a million dollars from his rich and famous father, the other was shot dead by a racist for no reason, neither of them made decisions, both were simply in the right place, at the right time or vice versa. Racial injustice is not something that involves choices. In a TED talk lawyer Bryan Stevenson speaks on his experience with injustice by saying, “1 in 3 black men are incarcerated during their lifetimes”, this is a devastating blow to the argument that someone’s choices are the sole deciding factor of how their life plays out. During this TED talk he also states, “For every 9 people that are on death row, we have found that at least 1 is found innocent and is exonerated,”. Now this statistic is for all races, however, it is hard to believe that out of everyone 9 people on death row, 1 of them is innocent. In a 2010 study by PrisonPolicy.org, out of 100,000 people incarcerated 2.207 were black and only 380 were white. If you take that statistic and think about the chances of the 9 people being executed being black or white, it would be foolish to think that at least half are not black. 

Another argument is that black people have more drug offenses, which is completely incorrect. “Approximately 65% (of drug dealers) are white…. But, more than 50 percent of those imprisoned for drug sales or possession are people of color”(Issues.org). This is particularly shocking and appalling. Listening to people complain constantly about criminal activity and how if someone gets arrested and wants to commit crime that they should be punished, however, some of those same people are the same ones who do not like to pay taxes for prisoners and some even support the idea of charging prisoners for their stay. The biggest problem(other than a racist justice system) is that there are no rehabilitation programs for those who have been arrested on drug abuse, distribution, or promotion charges. We also punish these people with consequences and criminal records, making it hard for them to find jobs and rejoin the communities. The whole point of prison is supposed to be a consequence for a crime, why are there more consequences after time has been served? The authors introduce collateral consequences which are, “the effects that remain after the formal sentence has been served”. Therefore, any affect that will be permanent or at least semi-permanent, is a collateral consequence of serving time in prison or jail. These consequences can range anywhere from having to return to the same area they were living at the time of their arrest, or not being able to receive benefits from the government. The latter greatly upsets me, how is someone to reenter society, immediately find a job as a felon or as someone with a record, and maintain a place to live and food? Some of the people have children and families to provide for as well, what are they to do if the government is literally preventing them from getting a job or receiving benefits? 

I recently talked with my uncle that served time in prison, he told me about how the probation office made people in certain states pay their probation officers. After researching this, I found that the state was Tennesse and that the probation fees were “$45 a month based on income”(TN.gov) which basically means that you have to pay however much you can on top of finding a job that allows convicted persons to work. This seems especially cruel to me, it makes no sense to charge people who just got out of jail and are already going to have a hard time finding work, some having families, rent, and other expenses to worry about. There is also the argument that if they did the crime why would taxpayers pay for their supervision and the salary of their probation officers. However, the more it makes more sense to not make the prisoner pay because they could resort to illegal activities to pay for their expenses, which according to my uncle happens most of the time, creating reoffenders. 

I recently read a book for an assignment and the chapter I read was specifically about the war on black crime and started its timeline during the Johnson administration and went through his plan to fight crime, which was by approaching it as an effect of poverty. Then the author begins discussing how Nixon came in and approached the crime as a race issue and how he implied in public that the crime was mostly based in urban areas with high concentrations of black people. The laws are discussed and how he gave local and state police the control over how they wanted to fight their crime. Nixon had an organization that handled all the crime for him but it was made up of people who had no real experience. The chapter discusses how Nixon used billions of dollars to keep police in power and put them through “training” that would help them take out the black crime problem. There is also an excerpt from his personal journal talking about how the crime problem, “is really the blacks”. Another big point is block grants and the incentive Nixon gave to the judicial system to give criminals the heaviest punishments they could to keep them off the streets. There was also a “Long Range Master Plan” that cost the nation $500 million to rebuild and remake America’s prison system. In actuality the plans for these systems were not even based on crime but were based on the projected population growth, meaning that the people in charge were just preparing to arrest black people in large numbers and keep them out of communities. The rehabilitation programs decreased and now we have an overrepresentation of people of color in our penal systems. This chapter explained how Nixon’s plans and the racist time period were a direct cause of mass incarceration. This contributes to another huge part of the problem, people think that police and the judicial system are not heavily corrupt and run by people with incorrect beliefs and mindsets. If the police, judges, and attorneys were better trained, there would be less of a chance of wrongfully accusing people of something they did not do (The War on Black Crime). 

As American citizens we should be asking why it is so hard for everyone to acknowledge that we are doing our own people a grave injustice. There is a very easy way to answer this, we have a President who has outwardly encouraged police officers to use unnecessary force. Donald Trump, said in a speech to law enforcement in reference to when police officers are putting suspects into the police car to “you can take the hand away, let them hit their head,”(WashingtonPost.com). We seemingly cannot find a leader that can care enough about human lives to find time for reform in the judicial and correctional systems. Everyone who has been accused or convicted of a crime is a criminal and that is what they are reduced to by these big politicians. Everyone wants hard justice until that hard justice is coming down on them or a loved one. During his campaign Trump often referred to himself as the “law and order” candidate which is a direct reference to ex President’s failed plans to crack down on crime. This man is literally speaking of doing the same things that have already proven to be more harmful than helpful when it comes to mass incarceration. "Decades of progress made in bringing down crime are now being reversed by this administration's rollback of criminal enforcement," is how Trump responded to crime rates in a speech(BusinessInsider.com). This makes absolutely no sense and is indeed false. 

In conclusion, in order to make this country safer and freer, there is a need to hold politicians, the judicial system, the corrections system, and even the President to a higher standard when it comes to mass incarceration and its effects on people of color and their communities. There has been so much racial injustice towards people of color in the US for so long, when are we going to allow these people to live like people and not second class citizens. As I end this essay, what arguments are left unanswered. There are none, because you cannot logically and constitutionally justify slavery in a new form. Eventually people will wake up and realize that we are basically living in another Holocaust, this is not just a problem it is a genocide and oppression of people who want nothing more than they deserve: the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

 