The price that US minority communities pay: mass incarceration and the ideologies that fuel them

Abstract

Mass incarceration of minorities has generated alarming attention. This concern is a result of the massive social injustice perpetrated by the ideologies that force mental and physical imprisonment on the poor. The outcome of this social injustice generates punitive inequalities that become entrenched in US social experiences. Once incarcerated, an individual carries a permanent label that brands him/her as an eternal ‘criminal’ and deactivates him/her from mainstream society. This translates into exclusion from responsible educational and occupational participation. Disadvantaged members of minority groups caught in this unforgiving social imprisonment often turn to the underground economy, which, unfortunately, increases the possibility of arrest, or re-arrest. The imprisoning ideology that stereotypes the disadvantaged community, leads to increased incarceration, hypersegregation, social abandonment, and creates a theater for venomous law enforcement practices. The impact of mass incarceration and the ideologies that sustain them on disadvantaged minority communities is the focus of this examination.

Keywords:

• mass incarceration
• David Garland
• re-entry
• imprisonment
• collateral consequences

Notes

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Justice Studies Association, ‘Unlocking the Prisons of Our Lives’, in Philadelphia, PA, June, 2011.