Government paper
The Texas prison system is a very cruel cutthroat system that has many problems And racial issues. The system is deeply embedded in the state’s budget, but also in its political, cultural, and social fabric and impacts the lives of millions of people. From the wrong the accused, actual criminal and racial profiled African Americans and hispanics to the wardens, prison guards, judges and politicians who work on or for the prisons. Through his Book “Texas Tough” Robert Perkinson shows an effective argument against how Texas is using the prison system as a way to control and unethically treat African Americans and other minorities just like they did from 1870-1965 with the jim crows laws through the criminal system by using statistical evidence, Historical evidence, and Historical pictures of african american prisoners being treated like slaves by the Texas prison system.
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The most powerful example of this is the pictures Perkinson put into the book is the picture of the man with a little girl on a horse. The caption under it says “Higher-ranking officers were assigned ‘houseboys’, usually African American trusties who would be used for cooking, cleaning, or even child care”(Perkinson,picture pg.2). The picture helps prove his point that the prison system was used like slavery to control african american because it has the african american prisoner working for his “master” aka his prison warden or prison guard for free. The second picture which is right under it shows prisoners all of which are African American working with some stone and axes. Underneath the picture the caption says “just as slaves built Texas’s first state capitol, leased convicts constructed its replacement”(Perkinson,picture pg.2). The picture helps support his claim because the prison is controlling the african american prisoners by making them work for free like