The "Prison Industrial Complex" Revisited.

In viewing and reading the material concerning “The Prison Industrial Complex,” there was a vast wealth of information concerning prisons. It can be overwhelming reading the amount of information related to this topic that seems to permeate and highlight a system set in place which seems to have taken on its own sustenance through greed, politics and the errors of both sane and insane individuals. Instead of being operated in the capacity in which the penitentiary was designed for (that being reformation and to pay off outstanding debt that was owed), a new life-form now exists that feeds itself and operates almost independently of the idealism that it was founded on. This being the prison system of today commonly referred to as the “Correctional System” in the United States.

The fact that during the civil rights period there seemed to be a momentous drive to implement laws and policies that would incarcerate more and more Americans is not that surprising. The government was under attack from many fronts within its own borders. People were uneasy and were fed up with the way that things were and how they were being treated. As time passed, one can clearly see that laws were enacted that targeted certain populations of the people. Drug laws gave mandatory minimums for drugs that were being used and sold in the Black communities across America; as opposed to the drug laws that were used and sold primarily among White America, highlight the disparity in incarceration rates among racial lines. Could this have been a response by the government to quell the rising minorities of this time? This is uncertain. However, the prison system almost exploded with blacks. With the numbers of prisoners on the increase overcrowding occurred and new questions arose as to the maintenance of the prisoners that were now being housed in prison.

With the events unfolding the way they were, the cost of care and “overseeing” the booming prison population came into play. Tax dollars were now being used at enormous rates to sustain this influx of prisoners. Something had to be done. It is amazing that as of today, the United States of America has more prisoners in its institutions than any others country in the world. What is the reasoning behind this fact? These are all questions that one can only hypothesize as to the answers. One fact that cannot be denied is that through the introduction and use of privatized prisons, a monetary market has been created that not only benefits state, federal and local governments; but also establishes a need for more prisons of this sort to be established. Tax-payer money is cut from sustaining state ran institutions as private prisons reduce costs, while providing incentives to those who contract with the owners of such prisons. Prison labor is cheap and using prisoners as literal slave workers, only bolsters the psyche of those who benefit (more often in economic ways than any other) to continue this practice. This is the self subsisting entity that was referred to earlier by using the Terminator 2 analogy to highlight what is being done. This is fascinating. Most of the incarcerated in this country today are for drug offenses. Mandatory minimum sentences; property offenses and nonviolent offenses are sustaining system function. Just what is going on in America?

As was mentioned in the reading concerning the Prison Industrial Complex, fear has been a factor used on the American people to justify the grounds for this booming trend in expanding prison growth. Political agendas and egos of not being “soft” but “tough” on crime has been thrown in the face of the public to substantiate what has, and is still occurring. Some American people have a lock ‘em up attitude when it comes to law violators. However after they are sent away to these prisons, no-one wants to see what goes on inside of the prisons that they have just sent people to. It’s almost like a guilty conscience emerges in the people. If one were to look at the places where they have sentenced a person to spend the next however many years, they might then have a sense of shame. Not that all who are sent to prison belong there, but some people are just unfortunate victims of circumstance all over again by such harsh laws. This is very disquieting as one reflects on the thinking of the people as a whole. The disturbing fact of this all is that people are not being helped who need it.

Physically and mentally ill prisoners are routinely not treated due to the tight budgetary methods that control such institutions as private prisons. This creates a poor environment for both the staff and the prisoner, placing both at risk for injury due to the conditions and feelings that will develop over time. It seems that the true reason for the establishment of prison has been lost. Lawbreakers whether violent or nonviolent bear the mental, physical and psychological burdens of the policies and practices that are taking place in America right now. America collectively does not know, or does not care to know that right underneath their noses; almost draconian practices are underway in political arenas that affect millions of Americans and their families.

Honestly, the information contained in the readings and video clips concerning the Prison Industrial Complex is so vast and so shockingly real that regrettably, one cannot cover the intricacies of what is taking place in this country concerning the Prison Industrial Complex. Big business and politics have crept in this system, to create a powerhouse of deceit and greed that is setting itself up for disastrous consequences if something is not changed. However it seems like this is the wave and unless opponents step up to force change, politics and greed will conquer, creating a super Prison Industrial Complex. This system effects the lives of people who depend on jobs provided by prisons, on the families who have loved ones in prison, of the politicians and private owners of prisons, even down to the way that children and teenagers view prison and its culture. America is in a state of denial if it refuses to follow examples set forth in countries like Canada, which uses alternative means to punish or reform its violators or lawless population. By implementing the use of programs and home monitoring and other means, Canada has reduced its prison population to ease overcrowding. There are so many factors and so many points to this system that it seems unreal, yet this is the dilemma that has presented itself to America. What is going to be the next move for this “Land of the Free, Home of the Brave?”

References:

Schlosser, E. (1998). The prison--industrial complex. The Atlantic Monthly,282(6), 51-77.