History of Mass Incarceration

"Like Jim Crow, and slavery, mass incarceration operates as a tightly networked system of laws, policies, customs, and institutions that operate collectively to ensure the subordinate status of a group defined largely by race.”--Michelle Alexander

Many factors contributed to the rise of mass incarceration in the U.S. The pursuit of punishing criminals and all offenders of the law throughout history has been a main point of this discussion, which began during the convict leasing program in the 1840s. Implementation of harsher laws for low-level crimes became the staple for the increased prison populations throughout history along with limited assistance for those released from prison, which continues today (https://www.nap.edu/read/18613/chapter/6#107). The focus of prisons were shifted towards punishment, rather than rehabilitation. The following essay examines some of the major contributions that were made, which led to the increase of prison population in the U.S.

In the early 1800s, the first major increase of incarceration is seen. This was due to the Pennsylvania and Auburn prison systems being introduced. The law was reformed to incarcerate criminal offenders rather than to sentence all to death. Criminals were now given prison sentences, but did nothing to lower crime rates. The Auburn prison system then became the choice for reform due to it's strict rules and "no talking or get punished" method. During this time, slavery was abolished.

With the abolition of slavery came increased slavery rates. The "plantation justice" was set in place to continue to hold African Americans as cheap labor. This was due to the increase in demand of natural resources, such as rice, tobacco, and cotton. With the increase in demand for cotton and decrease demand for all other resources came the establishment of a centralized prison used primarily as a manufacturer. Once the cotton gin was patented, this led enslavers to push their slaves to pick as much cotton as possible and set quotas for them to meet each day. This increased the amount of prisoners they were holding, which increased prison populations.

African Americans continued to be the "problem population". In 1895, the convict leasing system began in Arizona. Prisons were given authority to “lease” convicts out to companies that provided sufficient funds as long as they did not work on their own buildings, but could work on projects within prison walls or outside of them (Paul Knepper, "Converting Idle Labor into Substantial Wealth," p. 82). This came about due to the high costs of maintaining prisons, which allowed officials to use convict labor to benefit themselves while also justifying it's benefits to the inmates. This was synonymous with the introduction of the "Good Road Movement", which then replaced the convict leasing system. This movement was again aimed at the African American race, which was said that it would help the state economically but instead it made the minority workers suffer. This continued the targeting of the African American population, which increased prison populations even more. Race was a major factor of the carceral state, and it continues in later years.

In the early to mid 1900s, racial tensions increased. African Americans were now at odds with law enforcement and their racial profiling. Race riots began due to the inequalities of the criminal justice system. African Americans began to fight back in order to gain their civil rights. The Law Enforcement Assistance Act and the Office of Law Enforcement Assistance program both funded police departments in order to arm themselves with whatever they needed. Crime control became the staple of the late 1900s and what better way than to attack the heart of crime: African American urban neighborhoods. New weaponry, upgraded criminal databases, and criminal profiling caused law enforcement to gain a sense of militarization. "Americans typically imagined welfare and crime as problems emanating from the same places: low-income African American and Latino urban communities." (Kohler-Hausmann, Guns and Butter, p. 88). Low income areas and minority dominant neighborhoods became the targets of law enforcement and was compared to the Cold War. "...trends included growing racial disparity in incarceration rates; an abandonment of rehabilitation in the name of retribution; an increase in long sentences for petty offenses that targeted racial minorities (drug convictions, in this case); and a renewed attraction to privatized corrections to reduce the cost increased punishment entailed for states in a period of austerity." (Litchenstein, Flocatex and the Fiscal Limits of Mass Incarceration: Toward a New Political Economy of the Postwar Carceral State, p. 114).

In 1982, Ronald Reagan officially declared the War on Drugs. Minor drug offenses caused a massive spike in prison populations, which were the effect of new strict laws. Marijuana was categorized in the same lines as crack and cocaine due to it's apparent "gateway drug" nature. "Political culture hyped a marijuana-as-a-gateway-to-heroin narrative and middle-class groups demanded severe penalties to prevent urban and foreign “pushers” from corrupting white youth." (Lassiter, Impossible Criminals: The Suburban Imperatives of America’s War on Drugs, p. 128). Mandatory sentences were handed down to anyone in violation of drug offenses no matter how petty the offense. Racial divides between law enforcement and minority population became more apparent as police began to primarily target “urban and low income” areas (Lassiter, Impossible Criminals: The Suburban Imperatives of America’s War on Drugs, p. 138). Criminals were now flooding the prison system, and continued the rise of mass incarceration in the U.S. "Prison and jail populations skyrocketed as a result of the 'War on Drugs'" (Mark Dow, American Gulag, p. 8).

In 1986, a few years after the War on Drugs was declared, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act was introduced. This act called upon minimum sentences for drug violations of at least five years. 500 grams of cocaine called for the same penalty as five grams of crack and recreational marijuana usage was in the same category as heroin and crack due to being this “gateway drug” (Lassiter, Impossible Criminals: The Suburban Imperatives of America’s War on Drugs, p. 139). This new act continued to have an adverse affect on the prison populations as the political nature of the country continued to victimize the white suburban middle-class citizen. "...the political and cultural construction of the white middle-class victim operated alongside the racialized threats of the urban pusher, foreign trafficker, and predatory ghetto addict to sustain the war on drugs and expand the American carceral state." (Lassiter, Impossible Criminals: The Suburban Imperatives of America’s War on Drugs, p. 140).

All the while during the War on Drugs, Crime, and Poverty, immigration was also increasing prison populations and quickly became the main contributor for the mass incarceration probleim in the U.S. during the 1990s and post 9/11. An immigration quota was established in order to increase profits for private prisons, which then caused incarceration rates to rise and were made up of mostly non-criminal illegal immigrants. Overstaying past visa expiration and unlawful entry into the U.S. were automatic prison sentences and deportation (Torrie Hester, "Deportability and the Carceral State," p. 141). Complete control of immigrants seeking asylum was turned over to INS. INS would detain asylum seekers while investigations were being conducted for entry into the U.S. This process could last up to one year, which increased incarceration rates even more. In 2001, the U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T Act was passed. This allowed law enforcement more power to detain any suspected terrorists and use many invasion of privacy techniques, such as wiretapping. This caused the detention of many people who had no ties to terrorism and filled prisons with mostly those who were or thought of as Muslim due to the 9/11 attacks on the U.S.

Throughout our nation's history, there have been many causes that contributed to the mass incarceration problem the U.S. had and continues to have today. Now, in 2017, about 2.3 million people are incarcerated in either a state or federal prison in the U.S., which 20% of these inmates make up non-violent or minor drug-related offenses leading to an overcrowding of prisons (Kelly Lytle Hernández, Khalil Gibran Muhammad,and Heather Ann Thompson, "Introduction: Constructing the Carceral State"). “Punishment does not fit the crime, leaving low-level offenders to face unduly harsh sentences that could keep them locked up for an excessive amount of time…” Clare Foran (www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive).