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Mass Incarceration

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Mass incarceration

Over 1,400 inmates at the Attica Correctional Prison in New York took over in 1971,

resulting in a multiday confrontation with police that resulted in a bloodbath(Williams, 2021).

The episode resulted in forty-three persons, many of whom were inmates, and was a

watershed moment in the American prisoner's rights movement. The men behind what has

been referred to as a "rebellion," "uprising," and"riot" at Attica demanded more visitation

privileges, better food and medical supplies, and an end to guard violence and unsanitary

conditions.

Due to drug offenses, nearly 500,000 individuals are incarcerated in the United States'

criminal justice system(Janisch, 2018). Most of them were caught simply possessing the

drugs, a nonviolent crime. Approximately forty-four percent of these persons get detained in

federal facilities, and most people serving in federal jails and prisons are in for drug offenses.

Drug use and poverty go hand in hand and often hinder escape from poverty and addiction

cycles.

Drug and substance abuse could result from poverty since it tends to help the abuser

cope with financial stress, or poverty can result from chronic use of expensive drugs that can

be overwhelming for the user. Whereas it is difficult to determine whether deprivation can

make a person commit a crime, recent data has shown that it makes a person vulnerable to

arrests and can be charged on a more brutal crime and receive prolonged sentences. Some

people have been pronounced guilty of a drug offense and imprisoned in local jails.

Approximately twenty-five percent of non-convicted people are being held awaiting trial on a

drug charge.

Recent research has revealed that over two million persons are now imprisoned in the

United States. Roughly half of them are accused persons who cannot afford bail, nonviolent
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drug offenders, and those imprisoned for failing to pay bills and penalties for minor offenses.

The USA pays homage to 28 percent of the world's inmates, and nonviolent crimes account

for about half of all convicts in state prisons. Between 1990 and 2016, the prison population

in the United States increased by 700 percent. A rate that considerably outpaces both

population growth and crime rates. One in every 106 white guys aged 18 and up is behind

bars; One out of every 36 Hispanic guys aged 18 and up in prison; One out of every fifteen

black males aged 18 and up is jailed.

Poverty and Overcriminalization

Between 2000 and 2017, individuals convicted of a felony with at least college-level

education were sentenced 7.9 percent shorter than those who did not possess a college

education (DeFina and Hannon, 2013). Education levels correlate with income in America,

suggesting that long and heavy fines are imposed on low-income persons.

According to a study conducted by Brookings Institution, 49 percent of men were

only employed for three years before incarceration. The study projected that these individuals

were highly likely to be unemployed and poor and grow up in areas with high levels of

unemployment and poverty. Children raised in these areas are likely to have developmental

challenges that inhibit impulse control, lower educational achievements, and trigger low self-

confidence and esteem. This attribute to a likely hood of committing a felony.

Costly cash bail

Despite findings indicating growing usage of cash bail corresponds with higher rates

of failure to appear rather than lower rates of failure to appear and no evidence that it

improves community safety, its use continues to expand. Adjusting for inflation, the typical

bail amount in 2014 was $10,900, translating to more than $11,700 in 2020 dollars. Over the
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last few decades, the use and quantity of cash bail have increased. As of 2009, roughly 75

percent of nonviolent felony drug offenders faced $6,000 or more bail.

Most persons in the lower twenty percent of the income distribution would not have

enough assets to pay even the median bail bond premium. Before their detention, the typical

income of a person in jail unable to pay bail is expected to be $15,322 in 2020. In 2015, a

jailed person's median income was 61 percent lower than their non-incarcerated counterparts.

According to research, Black defendants have a 3.6 percentage point higher chance of

receiving bail than White defendants, and their bail is $10,000 greater on average.

Individuals arrested for behaviors not directly linked to homelessness, poverty,

incapacity to provide child support, and not paying bills and fines are hard to quantify, it is

visibly evident that they comprise quite a good number of the incarcerated population, likely

up to ten percent. According to these estimates, nonviolent offenders of drug abuse and those

arrested or detained for reasons relating to their poverty amount to a rough estimate of fifty

percent of the jailed population in the United States.

Drug Abuse and Poverty

Over 19 million Americans aged 13 and above struggled with a drug use problem in

2017. Drug use and poverty feed each other, making it difficult to break free from the cycle

of addiction and poverty (Wagner and Sawyer, 2018). Poverty can result from a person using

drugs and alcohol to cope with financial stress, or deprivation can result from repeated and

costly drug abuse that leads to enormous debt.

In 2017, alcohol and substance abuse were estimated at over 1.5 trillion dollars,

including societal harm caused by substance abuse and economic losses. Drug use is directly

linked to poverty because of its consequences on education, family composition, and human

capital investments. Drug usage patterns are formed at a young age, far before most human
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capital and education expenditures. Family mix and income sources substantially impact

labor market results and household income levels.

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, persons who live in

poverty have a more challenging time recovering from drug addiction. Because they lacked

health insurance and could not afford rehab, 37percent of Americans aged 13 and over did

not seek treatment for their addiction. This culminates in those affected participating in

criminal activities.

Ethnic and Racial disparities

Poverty is not the only factor in mass imprisonment. Poverty and its links to

incarceration have varied effects on minority communities in the United States because they

are most likely to be poor. However, racial and ethnic disparities in imprisonment rates

continue even when poverty is considered (Janisch, 2018). Despite historical evidence

demonstrating that Whites are as, if not more, likely to use illegal drugs, approximately 80

percent of those in federal prison and sixty percent of persons in state prisons for drug

charges are Black or Latino.

Additionally, people of the same race are more inclined to buy drugs from someone.

Suppose persons of all races were arrested, accused, prosecuted, and sentenced equally. In

that case, the number imprisoned for drug offenses should mirror roughly the racial mix of

the overall population—or even trend somewhat more White. This is not the case, according

to the statistics. In 2010, Black Americans used 25 percent more marijuana than White

Americans, yet Black people were arrested 280 percent more often than white people. A

federal prosecutor was nearly twice as likely to prosecute Black defendants with an offense

that carried a mandatory minimum penalty as White offenders.

The Effect Of the 2018 First Step Act

A bipartisan criminal justice reform measure, “The First Step Act” (FSA), formally

known as formerly incarcerated renter society, seeks to lower the size of the federal prison

population while enhancing criminal justice results. Notable progress has been made since it

became legislation in December 2018 to reduce sentence durations and release inmates who

have already spent substantial time (Grawert, Camhi, and Chettiar, 2017). The FSA addresses

old-fashioned sentences, notably, shortens the compulsory minimum sentences on nonviolent

drug offenses.

Aside from early release and reduced terms, the FSA mandates the BOP to assist

offenders in applying for benefits from the federal and state and obtaining a social security

card or a driving license for identification. The FSA also reapproved the Second Chance Act

of 2007, which established guidelines for recidivism-reduction collaborations between

prisons and non-profit organizations and established a grant program competitive enough to

deliver such services.

Conclusion.

Currently, the united states imprison roughly a million people due to a low-level drug

offense, poverty, directly and indirectly related offenses, and property crimes. Approximately

half a million individuals are incarcerated because they cannot pay cash bails for their

release. Approximately ten million persons owe fifty billion dollars in penalties, legal fees,

and fines. Using monetary penalties and cash bails punishes individuals to poverty and

factors ethnic minorities and racial issues. Solution policies in the future ought to work to

avoid unemployment and poverty and to levy non-monetary forms of punishment for

individuals earning low incomes.

References

DeFina, R., & Hannon, L. (2013). The impact of mass incarceration on poverty. Crime &

Delinquency, 59(4), 562-586.

Grawert, A. C., Camhi, N., & Chettiar, I. (2017). A federal agenda to reduce mass

incarceration. Brennan Center for Justice. https://www. Brennan center.

org/publication/federal-agenda-reduce-mass-incarceration.

Janisch, R. F. (2018). Mass Incarceration. The Handbook of Social Control, 306-318.

Sawyer, W., & Wagner, P. (2019). Mass incarceration: The whole pie 2019. Prison policy

initiative.

Wagner, P., & Sawyer, W. (2018). Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2018.

Williams, M. (2021, September 8). On 50th anniversary of Attica uprising, 4 essential reads

on prisoners' rights today. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/on-50th-

anniversary-of-attica-uprising-4-essential-reads-on-prisoners-rights-today-167591