Argumentative Essay On Mass Incarceration

Mass incarceration has been around for over 200 years and still growing rapidly. Too many people are being put in jail and many prison systems can't keep up with the demand of people coming in. Many prison systems are dangerous where many people end up dead. The United States should not have mass incarceration because of the terrible living conditions, the harm to the economy and are discriminative against minority races.

The first reason the United States should not have mass incarceration is because of the living conditions of prisons that harm the inmates inside. The Equal Justice Initiative is a private organization that helps minorities that are incarcerated and helps them get out. In the article, they mention that people that are incarcerated

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1920. They are here to help defend and preserve the individual rights that are supposed to be guaranteed to every person in the United States. The ACLU wrote about how the United States spends over $80 billion on incarceration each year; where that money could go towards investing in better facilities and helping the surrounding community build. They also mentioned that twice as many people are incarcerated in local jails awaiting trial and presumed innocent as in the entire federal prison system, adding onto that, each year, 650,000 people nationwide return from prison to their communities. When they are returned to their communities, they face nearly 50,000 federal, state, and local legal restrictions that make it difficult for them to get back into society (Source C). Another example of how the prison system harms the economy is that ever since 1950, the number of people in the prison system has increased exponentially over the last 40 years. There are around 1.46 million people in the United States prison system and 39% of them were in prison for no public safety reason and could have been punished in a less costly and damaging way (such as community service) (Source B). Having low-risk offenders do community service helps the environment and gives the offender a less harsh

The Documentary 13th by Ava DuVernay examined the United States prison system, which looks at how the country's history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America. This documentary shows the relationship between African American men and the prison system and how it is corrupt. The documentary gives an example of one instance when an African American boy was discriminated against. Kalief Browder was a teen African American boy who was held at the Rikers Island jail complex, without trial, between 2010 and 2013 for allegedly stealing a backpack containing valuables. He was in solitary confinement for over 700 days. He killed himself while still in confinement (source A). Kalief Browder was just one instant out of hundreds. The police system is supposed to be non-biased towards race, gender, etc… but there is so much evidence that shows the system is corrupt and is biased towards minority races like African Americans. As I mentioned above with the living conditions, many inmates are put in solitary confinement, which eventually leads them to suicide like in Kalief Browder's case since they feel helpless or they end up developing a mental illness that isn't treated within prison