In this era of technological advancement, education is imperative as it is the foundation of modern society. American universities have sold themselves as being pathways both pathways to opportunity and knowledge. For decades, there has been direct correlation between the unemployment rate and educational attainment. According to the U.S. Department of Labor the unemployment rate for an individual with less than a high school diploma is 7.4 percent while the unemployment rate for an individual with bachelor’s degree is 2.7 percent.  More importantly, in the future it can be expected that 90 percent of the fastest-growing jobs will demand some type of postsecondary education or training. Although the pursuit of education can be a daunting financial task for many, education can be available to anyone that desires it with the help of financial aid.  However, federal student aid can be greatly limited, if a prospective student has criminal convictions or if the student is incarcerated.

Currently, there are more than 2.4 million people locked away in federal penitentiaries, state corrections facilities and jailhouses. The largest group to be incarcerated are black and brown individuals between the ages of 20 and 25.  Notably, the United States has both the highest minority population and also has the highest minority incarcerated.  The United States’ level of crime is comparable to those of other stable and industrialized nations—reasonably low. Yet, the United States’ level of crime is not commensurate with the rate of incarceration. It is the racial demographics of the prisoners that is more telling of the insidious nature of the penal system. In 2010, there were six times as many African American men incarcerated when compared to white men. With one out of three young black men likely to see the inside of a jail cell in their lifetime. Thus, mass incarceration is more than just a coincidental anomaly but a divisive racial controller, designed to keep certain members of society subordinate. Ultimately, mass incarceration fuels the ill narrative that black individuals are inherently evil, that they’re destined for failure.  This narrative follows black individuals in every aspect off their life creating a systemic inequality. Indisputably, as time has progressed, this country’s race relations have seemingly improved-- evolving from both slavery and Jim Crow. Still, race and the legacy of systemic discrimination continues to impact daily lives. Although not as conspicuous as it once were in the past, racism and social discrimination is still rampant. 

The prison system effects young African American men especially, as prison time is now a normal part of the early adulthood for black men. Even afterwards, prison affects the livelihood of these young individuals—barring them education, and employment.  Consequently, it is mass incarceration that deprives former convicts from the attainment of higher education; as individuals with criminal records need not apply, as the likelihood of acceptance is extremely low. Now, of course, some would argue that neither inmates nor former convicts deserve access to higher education, as they deserve to be punished.  Others would also argue that it is not the federal government’s responsibility to provide to for criminals.   However, there is a tremendous need to create a positive pipeline from prisons, to reintegrate former convicts into the general public and to ensure that former inmates are better equipped for success than failure.  Despite higher education being depicted as available to all who desire it, minorities are deprived from higher education, as people of color are more likely to be incarcerated, there is a lack of access to higher education in prisons and federal student aid is limited for inmates and former convicts.  

Until 1863 free labor, a result of slavery; flourished until the Emancipation of Proclamation was issued. During Reconstruction—the twelve years following the end of the Civil War (1865) and the abolition of slavery, former slaves made significant political, social and economic gains.  Black men were able to vote and hold political offices across the South.  Education flourished, black schools and social institutions thrived. However, Reconstruction laid the groundwork for Redemption, an organized effort designed to reverse black advances.  “Redeemers” utilized merciless racial violence and state legislation to prevent the racial equality that was promised under the 14th and 15th amendment.  Using the 13th amendment to their advantage white leaders created the convict lease system, to regain the free labor of African Americans.  Black codes were a series of laws enacted in 1865 and 1866 by southern states.  Their purpose was to regain control over freed slaves, and limit the freedom of freed slaves.  But more importantly, black codes main purpose was to ensure the continued supply of cheap labor.  The Black codes led to a system of penalties and crude punishments including that put freed slaves back into forced labor (American Historama). Black men, women and children were arrested and convicted and fined for petty offenses, such as, being unemployed and being out past curfew. If the individual could not afford the fine they were then sentenced to county labor or contracted out by a private employer. Ultimately, it was the aggressive enforcement of petty offenses that birthed convict leasing, which supplied labor for farming, the construction of rail road, mining and logging. “African Americans were arrested by the thousands during this period…During convict leasing, incarceration grew ten times faster than the general population, and prisoners became ‘younger and blacker, and the length of their sentence soared’” (Jones, 2016). These convicts had no definitive legal rights and were understood to be slaves and slavery continued to be an appropriate form of punishment.  

While convict leasing ended, Michelle Alexander argues, “The criminal justice system was strategically employed to force African-American back into a system of extreme repression and control, a tactic that would continue to prove successful for generations to come.” For another century black people were segregated, and racial biases remained. Today black men between the ages of 18 and 35 have a one in three chances of going to prison in their lifetime. The ages at which the pursuit of higher education and growth are ideal. Mass incarceration was a term first coined in the 21st century to describe the United States’ grossly high incarceration rate compared to other countries around the world.  In the early 1970s, incarceration rates appeared to be on a steady decline, to the point that many wondered if the practice would dissolve.  Yet, the exact opposite occurred; incarceration rates became egregiously high.  “Despite the fact that violent crime in American has been on the decline, the nation’s incarceration rate has tripled since 1980.  Approximately 13 million people are introduced to American jails in any given year” (Whitehead, 2012).  Initially, incarceration was criticized for its banal and detrimental effects; reentry into society was often a failure, with former inmates returning to prison. ZA Reformers looked for alternatives as way to manage criminal offenders.  However, today the United States’ penal system is characterized by a rejection of ideals of rehabilitation and an emphasis on “tough on crime” policies (Pager, 2007).  Both racism and the “War on Drugs,” have been criticized for long sentences for nonviolent drug crimes.  In 2016 President Obama declared “the real reason our prison population is so high is that over the last few decades we’ve also locked up more and more nonviolent drug offenders than ever before, for longer than ever before… the primary driver of this mass-incarceration phenomenon is mandatory drug sentencing.” The United States has less than 5% of the world’s population but approximately 25% of its incarcerated population-largely due to the war on drugs.   Due to insidious drug laws and harsh sentencing requirements have created profoundly unequal outcomes for communities of color.

In 2017, mass incarceration is still persistent, as fourteen states hit a record high prison population, while 31 states recorded an increase in prison admission (Kilgore, 2017). Mass incarceration continues to exist today because it has provided the private prison industry with a windfall. Although incarceration rates harm the nation by draining resources from the government, communities and taxpayers, it has been extremely lucrative for the private prison industry.  Currently, private prison companies are obtaining more government dollars, and executes are gaining enormous compensation packages. Leading private prison companies’ business model depends on high levels of incarceration. For example, the 2010 Securities and Exchange Commission, Corrections of America’s Annual Report, an influential private prison company stated: “The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by…leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices…”.  Consequently, as incarceration rates have soared, the private prison industry grows at an exponential rate—generating profits. Certain private prison companies employ tactics to gain more government contracts to incarcerate prisoners. Currently, for-profit companies are responsible for an estimated 6% of state prisons, 16% of federal prisoners and nearly half of all immigrants detained by the federal government (ACLU 2011).  However, the private prison industry is not the only industry that is reaping extreme financial gains from mass incarceration, the food supply companies, telecommunications, healthcare companies, telemarking and call centers, clothing manufacture, the technology sector, the bail industry and the food processing and packing industry are all reaping the benefits.

People of color continue to be disproportionally imprisoned, policed and sentenced to death at higher rates than their white counterparts. Foremost, racial disparities in the criminal-justice system threaten communities of color—disenfranchising thousands (Kerby, 2012).  People of color make up roughly thirty percent of the United States population, with sixty percent of those incarcerated.  Ultimately, the imprisoned rates disproportionately affect men or color with 1 in every 15 African American men and 1 in 36 Hispanic men compared to 1 in every 106 white men. A report by the Department of Justice found that communities of color have disproportionate number of encounters with law enforcement, demonstrating that racial profiling continues to be a problem. The report suggested that blacks and Hispanics motorists were approximately three times more likely to be searched than white motorists.  More surprisingly, African Americans are twice as likely to be arrested and four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with the police. Notably, students of color face harsher punishments in school than their white peers, leading to a larger number of youth of color incarcerated. Black and Hispanic students make up more than seventy percent of students involved in school-related arrest or referrals to law enforcement. African Americans make up two in every five and Hispanics represent one in every five of incarcerated youth (Kerby,2017). According to the Sentencing Project, African American youth have higher rates of juvenile incarcerated that are more likely to be sentenced to adult prison. The black juvenile youth make up sixteen percent of the youth population, however, thirty-seven percent of their cases are moved to criminal court with 58 percent of African American youth being sent to adult prisons.  

Studies show that inmates that gain an education in prison are less likely to return to prison and are more likely to get a job once they are released. However, few American prisons have higher education programs. Too many American prisons are overcrowded and don’t have the resources to reach inmates directly. “The same number of people—700,000—are released from prison every year as the number of men who graduate from college with bachelor’s degrees every year” (Moskowitz, 2012).  Even after convicts are released they still disparities as many are not eligible for financial Aid. Federal student loans and grants help millions of students each year. These grants and loans pay for tuition and cover many other cost—books, housing and other school supplies.  However, the federal government may not offer all students with a criminal record the opportunity to get financial aid and ultimately halt their pursuit of a college education, diminishing their chances of success after prison.  

Of course, some argue that neither inmates nor former convicts deserve access to higher education, as they deserve to be punished. They argue that convicted felons are getting a free education with professors from top colleges, while non-criminal citizens are going in debt to go to school. However, inmates that gain an education in prison are less likely to return to prison and more likely to be successful outside of prison. Any level of education behind bars reduce the risk of re-incarceration by thirteen percent. But more importantly, many inmates are in jail for nonviolent drug offenses.  Inmates deserve to be to have a clear pathway to reintegrate into the general public, to ensure that they don’t repeat their previous offenses (Westervelt, 2015).  Every dollar invested in a prison education program saves taxpayers between four and five dollars in re-incarceration costs. 

In conclusion, a prison reform is mandatory, there needs to be a larger investment in the prison education program. University students should advocate on the behalf of ex-convicts, as they deserve just as much of an education and the opportunity to be successful as we do. The University of South Carolina should provide classes for young newly released inmates, that aid them in making better decisions and reintegrate them into society. They need a support system that paves the way from prison and not a way back to prison program. Yes, inmates have made mistakes but they do not deserve to pay for those mistakes for the rest of their lives. 
