article review

Link: http://apha.confex.com/apha/136am/techprogram/paper_181097.htm

            This article came from the “Public Health with No Borders” and looks at incarceration in a new light. This author views incarceration as a disease that affects many people and therefore the people around them as well are susceptible to “catching” this disease as well. They argue that because of the host (people already incarcerated that they are close to), environment (area in which they live) and agents (the Prison Industrial Complex) certain people are more likely to become victims of incarceration as well.

            The problem with this is that it does not place very much, if any blame on the Prison Industrial Complex. They are more concerned with individual persons and the environment rather than why these things occur. They do not discuss why people of color and women specifically (in this article) are targeted and victims of an oppressive governmental system that is more concerned with punishment than rehabilitation. In the article they discuss options for change at the individual level and although it is important to create change on every level surrounding this issue it is not addressing the larger picture.

            In a world that is continually concerned with the individual, we need to shift our focus to the collective. No progress or real change can happen when we look purely at the individual level. When this happens it is too easy to say “but they are an exception that is not what most people have to deal with.” This is not true, often times if one person experiences something many people have also had the same hardship or feeling of oppression. Therefore, it is important to realize these things when making plans for change and education.