Meta description: If you think that Mass Incarceration can’t lead to harmful consequences, this article is for you. Check it out, and you’ll understand that this phenomenon should be solved.

Exploring the Causes of Mass Incarceration in America

The USA is the world leader in the number of prisoners. More than 2 million people are held in American prisons, approximately 25% of the entire prison population of Earth. The expanded prison population of the country in the United States is considered a unique social phenomenon. It is called the “Mass Incarceration” policy.

This term spread in America in the early 70s, when the number of people going to jail increased exponentially. Torture, horrendous conditions of detention, unjustified use of force, abuse of authority, bullying, and physical and psychological abuse are the daily routine of American prisons, as well as private firms with the right to carry out the punishment.

Possible reasons

Reasons for high incarceration rates in the US were due to the 37th US President Richard Nixon’s decision to declare war on drug crime. Ronald Reagan continued his course. During its eight years of rule, the number of prisoners in the United States increased from 329 thousand to 627 thousand people.

The incarceration rate was rising at both the federal and local levels. At the same time, most American prisoners are still kept in state prisons. From the late 1980s to the present day, the number of prisoners in the United States has almost quadrupled. From this, we can conclude that “mass incarceration” is a phenomenon that the country has been observing for several decades.

Study of mass incarceration in educational institutions

In the US, there are also juvenile detention centers for teenagers. The conditions in them are certainly not as cruel as in ordinary prisons, but they are also not very typical. Therefore, it is essential to explain to college students, and children in other educational institutions, that going against the law can lead to harmful consequences.

Teachers should make children understand that they will not have a future if they take a dark path. Teachers not only talk about mass imprisonment but can ask children to research papers, read free essay samples, or write their essays.

After reading the free essays online, children understand how bad prison conditions are. Also, they can learn a lot of new information in general. Of course, official information about the brutal treatment of people in prisons is not so much on the websites.

Still, every child can read a mass incarceration essay that reflects the situation very well. Students can find essays on any theme, from the caging of America essay to the essay on mass incarceration. Thus, many children refuse to have a similar future thanks to every mass incarceration essay. This way, they will be less likely to end up in prison.

Demand creates supply

Due to a sharp increase in the number of prisoners in the 80s, the country began to face an acute shortage of prisons. Private companies came to the aid of the state, to which they began to outsource the maintenance of prisoners. Prisons provide their “clients” with:

• mandatory diet;
• clothing;
• medical care;
• other household items and services.

 

Numerous studies show that conditions in private prisons are traditionally worse than in public ones. This is often explained by the desire of commercial organizations to save money for additional profit. The employees of such prisons are usually less trained than their guards against state institutions. They also receive less salary. All this affects the security of the prison.

Attempts to abolish private traders

Numerous reports and testimonies of private prisons’ poor conditions have been causing concern. It was since the Obama administration. After President Trump came to the White House, the Obama memo was rescinded. The Trump administration has continued to use private detention centers.

Useless attempts

After the 2020 election, Joe Biden decided to limit federal cooperation with private prisons. According to the new US president, this is “the first step to ensure that corporations stop profiting from prisoners.” “To reduce the number of prisoners, we must reduce the financial incentives for imprisonment and phase out the use of private detention centers by the federal government,” the executive order says.

Despite the president’s efforts, human rights activists and experts point to the negligible reach of Biden’s prison reform. The order only applies to the federal penitentiary system, which holds about 11% of all people in prison nationwide. Of these, about 15% are in private institutions. It means that the order only affects about 1.5% of US prisoners.

Possible solutions and consequences

To solve the problem of mass incarceration in the USA, the state must make a lot of efforts and understand what causes mass incarceration now. After all, this phenomenon has existed for more than a year, and it will be possible to get rid of it only after a few years completely.

But the president and the authorities need it now. First, it is necessary to stop cooperating with private companies and ensure normal treatment and conditions for prisoners in state prisons. It is also essential to review the judicial system in the country to be sure that no one is convicted unfairly.

Such changes require time and considerable effort, but the reasons for incarceration must be understood. After all, if nothing is done now with the phenomenon of mass imprisonment, in a few years, the USA will have to build new prisons or cooperate increasingly with private companies.

It can also lead to the fact that many guards, feeling impunity for their actions, will not be afraid to mistreat prisoners, leading to mass death in prisons. All this, in turn, leads to the fact that the state will not be able to control this aspect.

Conclusion

So, summarizing all of the above, you can understand that the problem of mass incarceration is a large-scale problem in America, even in our time. Many people are sent to prisons yearly, and most of them are subjected to brutal treatment and violence. Such a problem must be solved because it harms not only people but also America’s future.

The phenomenon of mass incarceration may lead to the fact that prisons will again not be enough. In this case, the state will again have to cooperate with private entrepreneurs, which will hurt the prisoners. After all, it is essential to understand that prisons are also people and should be treated humanely.