The Prison System

Between 1980 and 2015, the U.S. prison population jumped from 500,000 people to 2.2 million.
Mass incarceration led by the war on drugs led to this increase in the prison system.
The U.S. holds only 5% of the global population but makes up 25% of the global prisoners.
What's even more concerning are the racial demographics of the prison system.

The prison system is heavily racially divided and is especially leaning towards the black population.
1 in 106 white males over the age of 18 is incarcerated while in comparison to black males, that number is 1 in 15.
This isn't because African Americans commit any more crimes than a different demographic. As noted by the Nixon administration, much of the legislation passed to stop the war on drugs was more so designed to target the black community. Many of those laws are still in effect today, however, the main reason behind why they still exist is profit-driven.

The war on drugs created a demand for more prisons, and the individuals that took the call were private prison corporations.
The rise in prison systems led to the development of the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC). Private, for-profit prison corporations such as CCA and GEO have continued to cut deals with politicians to create more and more prisons.
Many times those deals require prison capacity to be at a minimum of 90% capacity or the government must pay them back.
As a result of that, legislation is constantly passed to create more and more prisoners. However, prison companies aren't the only businesses to profit from prisoners.

Politicians and state governments are often sold the idea of private prisons as a means to reduce costs
Sounds cost-efficient right? However, if a state fails to meet those occupancy quotas, it can result in having to pay off private prisons in the millions
Often times states and private prisons are even incentivized to keep existing prisoners within the system. As a result, infractions are constantly being doled out to keep prisoners longer.

The incrimination and housing of prisoners aren't the only forms of profit that prisoners hold. Prisons aren't just a form of systemic oppression in modern America, they are the institutions of modern Slavery.
Both private and public prisons contract prison labor to many different types of companies and prisoners receive only a few cents per hour for there work.
Despite the limited pay prisoners receive, prison labor earns close to $1 billion a year.

The prison industrial complex isn't just modern slavery through the use of physical labor. The separation of families is all to common in this modern system, and that ties straight back into slavery.
The institution of the family is essential to the development of communities and children. The prison system was a way to ensure that black families would continue to be broken up and not form communities.
With over 1.1 million fathers locked up in prison and 120,000 mothers.
It's evident that the system does not care for the well being of children suffering in this. And as a result, children with parents in prison tend to fall into a life of poverty and mental illness.
Communities that are plagued by heavy incarceration rates are hurt economically. With a lack of investment in these areas, poverty and crime become rampant.

The prison system doesn't just end with those inside the prison system. The lack of support for those who finally leave prison is minimal, as a result, many ex-prisoners end up back in prison.
Recidivism is the likelihood for a convicted criminal to re-offend. From 2005 to 2014, released prisoners were arrested again an estimated 2 million times.
Recidivism rates are so high in the U.S. because once inmates have served there time, they have no resources, no money, and no support.
Social welfare benefits in most states are not accessible to ex-convicts. Public Housing, Food Stamps, Student Loans, and even the Right To Vote are all inaccessible to an ex-convict.
To make matters worse, many states require you to inform future job providers of whether you have served in prison. Which greatly hurt your chances of being hired.
These factors all together force ex-convicts to have no other choice but to be homeless, be in poverty, or go back to crime.

So How do We Fix the Prison System?