Introduction to the PIC

The Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) refers to the fairly recent phenomenon of using incarcerated persons as cheep and almost slave labor.  There are many problems associated with this complex that correlate to issues of class, gender, sexuality but mainly racial inequalities. The private and governmental organizations that thrive off of incarcerated labor argue that they are using this “resource” to solve social and economic problems. However, in actuality, they are feeding off of the powerless in order to advance their own agendas.

            An interesting statistic I found on prisonsucks.com was that during South African apartheid (1993), 851 of ever 100,000 black people were incarcerated. While in 2006 under president George W. Bush, 4,789 of ever 100,000 black people were incarcerated in the United States. So, how do we get a 5.8 times higher rate than the most openly racist country in the world? I believe the hidden agendas of government officials along with the for-profit companies such as AT&T (largest employer) that make this sort of statistic happen. In order for our economy to run the way it does, we need this extremely large population to use, sometimes paying as low as $0.17 an hour.

            Does all of this evidence mean that prisons are obsolete? I will discuss a lot of Angela Y. Davis’s ideas from her book, “Are Prisons Obsolete?” where she discusses the issues of the PIC along with explaining the Prison Abolition movement. Some of her main points include the idea that prison labor and prisons in general are mirrors of slavery, that the prison system along with the criminal justice system is designed to incarcerate as many people of color as possible and that there is nothing being done in order to reform this organization. Here are some statistics to support this point:

• “Almost two million people are behind prison and jail bars in the United States. 70% of those incarcerated/locked down/made to disappear are people of color. 

• The fastest growing group of prisoners is black women. Per capita the most numerous group are Native Americans.

• In 1994, one in three black men between the ages of 20-29 were in prison, jail, on probation or on parole. In 1995, 47% of state and federal inmates were black, the largest group behind bars

• Black men were 7 times more likely than white men to be in prison. In 1993, Asians, Pacific Islanders, American Indians, and Alaskan natives made up 2% of prison population. Native Americans are 10 times more likely than whites to be imprisoned. Latinos are the fastest growing group behind bars.

• Between 1985 and 1995 Latinos jumped from 10% of all state and federal inmates to 18%. In 1993, whites made up 74% of the general population, but only 36% of federal and state prison inmates. In 1970, there were 5,600 women in federal and state prisons.

• By 1996 there were 75,000. 60% of that population are black and Latina. In 1993, the overall incarceration rate for juveniles was 221 per 1000,000; for Latino youth it was 481 per 100,000; and for black youth it was 810 per 100,000.”

 

Sources:

Davis, Angela Y. Are Prisons Obsolete? Steven Stories Press, New York. 2003.

Lenord, David CES 494 Syllabus http://www.libarts.wsu.edu/ces/FL07course&syl%20adobe/494leonard.pdf

Prison Policy Initiative. Prisonsucks.com, Northampton, MA September 10, 2008