The Racial Inequities in Mass Incarcerations in the U.S. Prison System

Despite declining crime rates in the United States in the past 2 decades, a very large segment of the population continues to be incarcerated. The era of mass incarceration in the U.S. spanned from the mid-1970s and lasted until the 2010s. This resulted in 2.3 million people being put behind bars, which is essentially 1 in 100 adults. In comparison to other countries across the world, U.S. citizens are more than 10 times as likely to be imprisoned than someone living in Denmark, Sweden, or the Netherlands, and 4 times as likely compared to UK citizens. The staggering number of people being sent to prisons is not the only issue regarding incarceration in the U.S. Rather the troubling issue at play here is the fact that it is for the most part African American and Latino men that are being incarcerated,  and disproportionately so. This raises issues of systemic inequalities and embedded racism within the prison system.

History

In the 1970s, the era of mass incarceration began. This was influenced by a variety of factors, including public anxiety about the criminal behaviour of specific racial or ethnic minority groups, and a rising, public demand for stricter sentencing laws. After the 13^th Amendment was passed in 1865, which abolished slavery, the U.S. experienced a ‘prison boom’. A loophole within the 13^th Amendment itself allowed for servitude if it was as punishment for a crime. This meant that many prisons were effectively modelled on plantations, which  inflicted forced labour on prisoners, who were more often than not former slaves. Many laws which facilitated the incarceration of African Americans were enacted at a rapid rate.   Such laws included making “walking without a purpose”, “walking at night”, or “hunting on Sundays” illegal. U.S. Courts, especially those in the South, harboured no sympathy for this torturous prison system, which was exemplified when the Virginia Supreme Court declared in 1871 that a prisoner was effectively “a slave of the state”.

The early 20^th century saw an influx of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe, which brought with it another increase in public anxiety regarding criminal behaviour. While immigrants, lower-class white people and black Americans were often blamed as the perpetrators for crimes, public consensus generally indicated that these groups of white Eastern and Southern Europeans could be ‘reformed’ through education or imprisonment. Black criminality, on the other hand, was believed to have no solution. This inherently racist practice of disproportionately incarcerating black Americans has continued to this day, and is undoubtedly a byproduct of slavery since its abolition, as well as systemic discrimination.

Racial Inequity in Incarceration

Despite crime rates having declined by 71% from 1993 to 2022, the U.S. persists with mass incarceration. Moreover, this is concentrated amongst African American and Latino men. Recent data shows that whilst Black men make up around 13% of the general U.S. population, they form 37% of the prison population. Arrest rates also reflect this inequity, with Black people constituting 4,223 per 100,000 arrests, while that number is only 2,092 per 100,000 for White Americans.

These numbers do not necessarily mean that Black Americans are actually committing a comparatively higher number of crimes than people of other ethnic backgrounds, but rather they reveal how the criminal justice system itself produces and reinforces racial disparities. Criminologists have long proved that crime statistics more often than not reflect patterns of policing, rather than patterns of offending. In other words, where the police focuses their attention is where they will find criminality. With the extensive police patrolling of minority neighbourhoods, it makes sense that a high number of arrests are of people of minority ethnic backgrounds. 

Racial profiling also plays a role here, with Black and Hispanic individuals being stopped, searched and arrested at disproportionate rates. This concentration of police efforts in minority neighbourhoods not only results in increased arrest rates, but also shapes public perception, reinforcing stereotypes of criminality that then justify even more aggressive policing. This is also a reflection of the institutional racism that is prevalent in so many areas in the United States. Unfortunately, these disparities are not accidental, but in fact are the outcome of historical legacies, from the post-slavery convict leasing system to the “war on drugs”, as well as policy choices that have consistently defined communities of colour as problems to be controlled rather than citizens to be protected. Thus, racial inequality in incarceration is not a byproduct of individual prejudice alone, but a reflection of how the state distributes surveillance, punishment, and protection unevenly across racial lines.

Private Prisons

Another factor to consider when looking at mass incarceration in the U.S. is the fact that its prison system is characterised by private prisons. Whilst nationwide, figures show that 8% of inmates are held in private prisons, in states like Montana, that number is almost half. The continued functioning of private prisons is a perpetrator of mass incarceration, as the companies that own these prisons are paid per inmate. This creates an incentive to keep incarceration rates high, as it leads directly to corporation profit. These corporations often lobby for laws that expand detention, while their own prisons have worse living conditions than federal prisons and higher rates of violence with  less rehabilitation programming. Although attempts have been made to phase out the use of private prisons, such as through the 2021 Biden Executive Order, this does not cover state-level or immigration detention centers.

Paths Towards Reform

The U.S. still has one of the highest numbers of people in prisons across the world, however, small steps are being taken to address this issue. It can be seen in states like Oregon and California that there are initiatives towards the decriminalisation of certain drugs, such as Marijuana. With drug related offences disproportionately targeting minority communities, a step towards decriminalization of more ‘minor drugs’ could mean lower incarceration rates for such drug use, and could eventually diminish inequities in the disproportionate arrest rates of minority communities . Moreover, ending mandatory minimum sentences, and ‘three strikes’ laws - which sentence people to life in prison if they have convicted three felonies - and instead focusing on the rehabilitation of these offenders would not only relieve the strain on prisons, but also positively impact these individuals and their communities.

Another factor that continues to place a strain on prisons is that there is no real incentive for former prisoners to be reentered and reintegrated into society. Most employers require the disclosure of the criminal history of potential employees when hiring and are reluctant to hire former prisoners. This increases the possibility for continued criminal behaviour of prisoners who have completed their sentences, and a lack of reintegration into society may eventually lead to their reincarceration  Furthermore, the wealth-based bail system allows possibly dangerous, but wealthy, offenders to leave jail while awaiting trial, even if their presence in society is a risk, whereas economically disadvantaged defendants, who are disproportionately Black or Latino, who cannot afford bail must stay in jail longer awaiting trial. States such as New York and New Jersey have already implemented some reforms to bail, where the risk of the offender being in society, rather than their wealth, is an assessment factor when granting bail.

The  prison system in the U.S. has deep-rooted, systemic issues, which prison reformer activists and certain state governments have taken small steps to reform. While these steps are of crucial importance, unfortunately unless the structural racism that is behind mass incarceration is resolved, it is unlikely that large-scale change will arise in the near future.