Once a person has been arrested and convicted of a crime, there are many possibilities for how the criminal justice system will govern their social and economic mobility. They may be given probation or other diversionary methods, or sent to a county correctional facility for a shorter period of time (up to two years). The most well known occurrence is being transferred to a state prison where they will serve their sentence. For many, life within prison walls can be dangerous.
This second article in the incarceration series aims to discuss the issues that occur for the incarcerated during their time in incarceration, and ways that you can help from the outside.
As the first article discussed, “Nearly 80% of people in federal prison and almost 60% of people in state prison for drug offenses are Black or Latino” (Drug Policy Alliance). While incarcerated, many people will lose their jobs, their homes, and custody of their children because they are either not able to provide care or able to make the necessary payments. And since a large portion of incarcerated people are Black or Latino, this further enlarges the racial wealth gap in the United States. By becoming incarcerated, a person is automatically set back in their ability to achieve a higher socioeconomic status. These factors all create a further divide on a macro scale, and they occur simultaneously with issues an incarcerated individual must deal with on the inside that can affect their physical and mental health.
A prison is often a place filled with violence, sexual abuse and isolation. Though there are laws in place that try to keep incarcerated persons safe, prisons do not always follow through on enforcing these rules. For example, in Alabama prisons “Serious understaffing, systemic classification failures, and official misconduct and corruption have left thousands of prisoners [sic] vulnerable to abuse, assaults and uncontrolled violence” (Equal Justice Initiative). These issues are not only occurring in Alabama, but Alabama has had a record level of incarcerated person mortalities over the past ten years, even as the overall incarceration population has decreased. Most of these deaths are due to unnatural causes, such as homicide or suicide. This can occur when there are not enough officers to supervise everyone. According to an article in 2018 by the Equal Justice Initiative, “a single officer is typically assigned to a dorm of 198 prisoners [sic] and there are periods at the prison where a total of eight officers are responsible for managing the entire prison with a population of over 1,200 men” (Equal Justice Initiative). This is an extremely unsafe living environment and it is vital that incarcerated persons are protected from physical harm, as it is their and everyone’s constitutional right to have a safe standard of living.
In addition to physical harm, there is a lot of mental and emotional strain that incarcerated people face while serving their sentences. Much of this comes from being forced into solitary confinement. Solitary confinement “consists of isolating a person in a cell for upwards of 20 hours per day and severely limiting human contact and environmental stimulation of any kind” (ACLU). But there are also other kinds of solitary confinement, such as being restricted to only your living quarters. The American Bar Association created an umbrella term called Segregated Housing that includes keeping an incarcerated person in isolation (ACLU). When in this kind of environment for even a short period of time, a person’s mental status can deteriorate. This especially occurs within vulnerable groups that are placed in solitary confinement, often as a way to make it easier on correctional officers, such as “prisoners [sic] who are pregnant, individuals with mental illness, transgender women and other LGBTQ people, and—in a particularly disturbing trend—victims of sexual assault by correctional officers” (ACLU). People are also often placed in solitary confinement because of minor behavioral infractions, such as talking back to an officer. For many prisons, solitary confinement is not an action used for its worst persons, but instead is used as a common practice.
Because of these high rates, in 2015 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Nelson Mandela Rules for solitary confinement in order to protect incarcerated persons. This rules include prohibiting:
“• Solitary confinement for longer than 15 days
- Solitary confinement of prisoners [sic] with mental of physical disabilities when those disabilities could be exasperated by solitary confinement
- Solitary confinement of juveniles, pregnant people, postpartum people, and people who are breastfeeding
- Indefinite solitary confinement” (ACLU).
These rules will hopefully promote a safer living environment for the incarcerated, and it is important that the United States government enforces these rules in prisons. As said before, keeping an incarcerated person safe is their constitutional right, and it is important that we consider how solitary confinement affects their safety.
Additionally, being in prison does not only affect the incarcerated person, but also their families. According to the ACLU, “Between 1991 and 2007, the number of children with a mother in prison more than doubled. About 62 percent of women in state prisons, and 56 percent of women in federal prison, have minor children. Upon imprisonment, this means that many children must be moved to the home of another family member, or even to foster care” (ACLU). Being placed in a home away from your parents is extremely traumatizing and many incarcerated persons will lose all custody of their children while in prison. Keeping incarcerated persons safe also includes allowing them to keep their relationship with their children.
Lastly, the prison system itself does not have all the necessary resources to support returning citizens, such as providing personal finance classes and mental health resources. Alissa McBride, who works with the Montgomery County Reentry Initiative in Pennsylvania says this is because of lack of funding or lack of resources, so other outside groups must help with this aspect of supporting returning citizens. There are many groups around the United States that promote wellness programs, such as employment training, faith-based programs, and many others, and they support returning citizens in reentering society.
Overall, the amount of physical and emotional abuse that occurs in prison is extremely harmful to incarcerated populations and their families. It is important that we remember that incarcerated people are more than a statistic, they are people who have made mistakes. Shanti Brien of Fogbreak Justice says, “You can’t meet anyone that hasn’t done something [bad]”. Making a mistake is no reason to be treated like an object. While it may seem impossible to help incarcerated people from the outside, there are ways you can help:
- Become a penpal to an LGBTQ2+ incarcerated person. You can do this through Black and Pink:
- Send books to prisons. Books are a great way for incarcerated persons to occupy their minds and keep exercising their brain. Here’s an organization to help you get started:
- Do your own research: Read The New Jim Crow, Punishment without Crime, Orange is the New Black, and Almost Innocent. These books are a great look into our criminal justice system and where it’s lacking.
- Work with or donate to an organization that helps children of incarcerated parents. Here is a link to a list of a few:
The resources will help to end the stigma of incarceration and bring to light the injustices that are occurring behind closed doors everyday.
Cover art designed by GroundBreakers Racial Equity Associate Asli McCullers.
References:
Image is from the ACLU
American Civil Liberties Union (2019). Still worse than second-class: Solitary confinement of women in the United States. American Civil Liberties Union. https://www.aclu.org/report/worse-second-class-solitary-confinement-women-united-states
Equal Justice Initiative (2018 December, 3). Alabama’s prisons are deadliest in the nation.
https://eji.org/news/alabamas-prisons-are-deadliest-in-nation/
Drug Policy Alliance (n.d.). Race and the drug war. https://drugpolicy.org/issues/race-and-drug-war
