Prison Industrial Complex

From Plantation to Prison: The Cyclical Practices of Racialized Punishment

Slavery resembled the parent figure in American history. Its’ foundation and ideologies stem from the previous failures and successes of its parent colonialism. Like colonialism, slavery held deep-rooted feelings favoring dominance through superiority but still saw the significance of keeping its’ possessions in good, working condition. On the other hand you have the prison industrial complex. The offspring of slavery, the prison industrial complex is nothing more than a damaged, avaricious, emotionless child who has been privileged and prejudiced since its reproductions. The concept of being chained and shackled has been passed down from colonialism to slavery to

Similarly, minorities, both men and women, undergo crueler charges, sentences, and punishments within the penal system. Loosely reflecting the philosophies of Michel Foucault, the practice of structural discipline granted colonialism, slavery, and the prison industrial complex the power to instill inferiority into their hostages, diminish their humanness and increase their reliance on others. The expression of discipline prior to the rise of the prison industrial complex consisted of cruel and unusual punishments. As individuals who claim to have morality, we [Americans] hold in a sacred national doctrine that we condone cruel and unusual punishments, yet these acts are executed by many officers of the law. It can be carried out through excessive physical, mental, emotional, psychological, and/or sexual interactions. The relationship between sexuality, criminality and race has always been a supporting pillar in the architectural design of colonialism and

The rapid increase of black convicts in the south buttressed the belief that African Americans were inherently criminal. Following the end of slavery, black men often guilty of no crime, were arrested and obligated to work without pay. Within that, these individuals were repeatedly bought and sold. In present day, the practice of convicting an innocent person is still significant. The representation is displayed in the disproportionate amount of Black men who have been or are currently incarcerated in the penal system. As black women have been sexually raped and stripped of their freedom, black men have been emotionally raped and striped of their right to obtain mental freedom. The prison industrial complex, colonialism, and slavery profited off the misery of others being employing legal mechanisms to harvest bodies. Despite being extremely different events in history, each of these experiences equally dehumanize the individuals under its oppression. America's modernized slave labor industrial complex [the penal system] is just a legal way to colonize prisoners. We have changed the titles of these entities but kept the same connotations. Whether they are considered captives, slaves, or prisoners, they are all treated as property and therefore could never be worthy of humane treatment. If you are seen as the “other” in society, then you are therefore inherently criminal