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Annotated Bibliography: The Mass Incarceration Epidemic of the United States

Research Questions: Why does the American justice system incarcerate so many of the nation’s citizens? What are the social effects of mass incarceration? How can the justice system be reformed in order to limit the number of citizens that are being imprisoned?

Agid, Shana, Michael Bennett, and Kate Drabinski. "Introduction: Teaching Against the Prison

Industrial Complex." Radical Teacher 88.1 (2010): 3-6. Web. 22 Mar. 2016. The complacent and seemingly accepting point of view that many Americans have towards the prison-industrial complex is discussed. The idea of cutting prison budgets and eliminating a large portion of our prisons scares people, and they cannot imagine our country without having such an extravagant and complex prison system, which is the largest per capita in the world. Here, the prison abolition movement is presented and examined. Prison abolition activism information is supplemented with ideas to establish alternate entities in the place of prisons, such as extensive rehabilitation. The goal: To keep people out of prison instead of locking them up in one. This source introduces a somewhat radical idea of prison abolition, but it is important to study for research on the topic of mass incarceration because it brings to light some great ways to reduce the number of people America incarcerates.

Delisi, Matt. "The Imprisoned Nonviolent Drug Offender: Specialized Martyr or Versatile Career

Criminal?" American Journal of Criminal Justice Am J Crim Just 27.2 (2003): 167-82. Web. 22 Mar. 2016. There is a growing movement of activists and lawmakers whom oppose sentencing nonviolent drug offenders to extremely harsh and long prison sentences. Since drug offenders come from all types of backgrounds, and are not limited to traits such as age, sex, race, or gender, they make up the largest and broadest demographic of criminals currently incarcerated in the United States. Advocates claim that locking up nonviolent drug offenders has not only negative fiscal impacts, but social impacts as well. The main argument behind this movement revolves around the reality that often times a nonviolent drug offender will serve longer time than those criminals who have committed violent crimes such as sexual assault, rape, and even murder. Not only is this a viable research resource because of its detailed statistical and financial data supporting the movement’s base claims, but it raises the big question of whether or not these nonviolent drug offenders should be locked up as much as they are, and what the country could be like if reform was made to keep these nonviolent drug offenders from being locked away so much.

Fulcher, Patrice A. "Hustle and Flow: Prison Privatization Fueling the Prison Industrial

Complex." Washburn Law Journal 51.3 (2012): 589-16. Web. 22 Mar. 2016. America’s prison-industrial complex (PIC) is an entity that is financially motivated to keep the country’s federal and state prisons filled to the maximum with inmates. Politicians, federal government, and the prisons themselves all play pivotal roles in keeping the PIC functioning at full capacity. The United States was not always the leading nation in incarcerating its citizens. It all began in the 1980’s with the war on drugs. Many (including the author) believe that the war on drugs was dually introduced to not only fight drugs, but also to imprison the black population of America. Once the prisons and government realized the potential to profit off of this, the PIC spiraled upwards out of control. Now, the United States has over 2.5 million citizens incarcerated. This source is important for research because it addresses the research question as to how we can change policies in order to limit the number of people that are incarcerated. The answer is stated as calling for an end to the privatized prison system and reform to be implemented within the drug sentencing procedures of the justice system.

Kontos, Louis. "The Irrationality of the Prison-industrial Complex." Dialectical Anthropology

Dialect Anthropol 34.4 (2010): 575-78. Web. 22 Mar. 2016. This source is a collection of essays that are written by actual inmates (former and active). The main theme of this article focuses on the inmates’ reentry into society. Not only is the difficulty of their reentry brought to light, but the extremely low level of success that inmates historically have during the process. Examples of older societies investing more time and resources into prisoner rehabilitation are provided. It seems today that the idea of rehabilitating prisoners is lost and that attempting rehab will result in failure. This is a great source for identifying different effects that mass incarceration has on our society and its members. It’s also relevant by introducing the idea of investing in rehabilitation in order to keep prisoners from returning to incarceration after they have been previously released.

Larson, Doran. Fourth City: Essays from the Prison in America. 01 Feb. 2014. Web. 21 Mar.

2016. This collection of essays has been written by inmates within the United States’

prison system. Prisoners leave no detail untold as they describe their personal

experiences during incarceration. Some writers reflect on life in the street that lead up to

their prison sentencing, while others reflect on violent stories that they have either witnessed or been a part of while serving time. The main focus of this book is to expose the prison system in America for not investing into the rehabilitation of inmates. This rehabilitation is not pertaining to drug and alcohol rehabilitation, but in regards to becoming fit to reenter society successfully. These unique stories all reflect upon a system that warehouses inmates at a rate higher than any other system in the world without investing in programs and resources to ensure that the inmates are well-equipped to stay out of prison once they are released. By reading these essays, one can become briefly immersed into what it’s like to be in prison, and the physical, emotional, and mental effects it has on the inmates who are put there. These unique perspectives and glances into this taboo sub-culture of America provide useful evidence in identifying the effects that mass incarceration has on prisoners. Although written by convicted felons on all levels of the spectrum, the essays are written eloquently and are very insightful.

Looman, Mary D., and John D. Carl. A Country Called Prison: Mass Incarceration and the

Making of a New Nation. 01 Jan. 2015. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. A literary allusion that paints the picture of the prison population of America as its own country within a country, and the reasons why the United States incarcerates more of its own citizens per capita than any other nation in the world. The writer suggests that racial inequalities within American society, injustices within the criminal justice system, and the war on drugs all greatly contribute to extremely high level of citizen imprisonment. The reader is asked to imagine themselves in a variety of scenarios ranging from being raised in an under-privileged sub-class of society, as a prisoner serving lengthy sentences over nonviolent crimes, the atrocities prisoners commit on one another, and how this all affects a person once they are released back into the streets where rehabilitation is almost nonexistent, and chances for success are slim. Many Americans would otherwise never be exposed to information divulged in this book. The unique perspective that the author gives the reader into the life of members of America’s incarcerated underclass will provide answers to the question of why America incarcerates so many of their black citizens, which makes this a great resource for research on this topic.

Selman, Donna, and Paul Leighton. Punishment for Sale: Private Prisons, Big Business, and the

Incarceration Binge. 2010. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. This book is an in-depth analysis into the

realm of privatized prisons, their relationship to the criminal justice-industrial complex,

and how this relationship has led America to become the most highly incarcerated country in the world. Specific and calculated statistical data is presented to support the claims of the authors that since the 1970’s, America has increased its number of imprisoned citizens each consecutive year all of the way up until the financial crisis of

2008. Another contributing factor to incarceration binging took hold in the 1980’s under

President Reagan’s war on drugs, which made even nonviolent drug offenders susceptible

to lengthy prison sentences. This war on drugs, coupled with the amount of money being

generated by big businesses in the private prison industry, has made over-incarceration

seemingly normal in modern American society. Effects, in relation to tax dollars spent

by the United States’ government and individual citizens is analyzed to show the

burden that mass incarceration has placed upon all American citizens, whether they realize it or not. The material covered in this book will be a valuable resource in

identifying the causes of mass incarceration and the effects it has on the American people

all together.

Treadwell, H. M., K. S. Ortiz, and J. R. Mccoy. "Miles to Go: The Prison Expressway, Health

Research, and Health Activism." American Journal of Men's Health 8.6 (2014): 449-56. Web. 22 Mar. 2016. The Prison Expressway is a term used to describe the system within the United States, which has wreaked havoc on American families, and black families in particular. People of color are kept within the confines of this Prison Expressway, and escaping is a difficult challenge. The six institutions that make up the expressway are the criminal justice system, economics, community/family, education, media, and health. All of the aforementioned have a profound effect on the imprisonment of people of color. On the contrary, those same institutions are greatly affected due to the fact that people of color are consistently imprisoned proportionally more than those that are not Latino or black. It offers great insight and suggests reasons why America has become to accustom to locking up its colored citizens more than its white citizens.