Is mass incarceration the new jim crow

In the United States of America, punishment to law-breakers has been constantly done through imprisonment. This is the reason why the United States of American has the greatest number of prisoners in the world. Many people are suffering in American jails both because of minor mistakes and great offenses. Currently, there are about 1,719 states prisons, over 100 federal prisons, 0ver 3000 local jails, around 900 juvenile correctional centers, about 80 Indian jails, military prisons, and numerous immigration detention centers. This number is astonishing and makes the United States of American the country with the strictest criminal rules that make offenders remain behind bars for minor offenses. They were considered the weak, unreasonable, and poor people. These rules were mostly used in the Southern States of the United States.

There were public places such as hospitals, hotels, schools, universities, recreational facilities and transport facilities for the whites that African American people were not allowed to use. Instead, African American people were provided with their own facilities which were mostly in poor conditions and in some cases, there were hardly any facilities. Whenever a person of color tried to use facilities meant for the whites, he/she would be arrested, beaten up and even imprisoned. Some were also sourced from various libraries. Literature review and research were conducted through intensive research through information finding and analysis. Questioners were also done to those people who were concerned with justice administration such as police officers and prison warden. There was crucial information that was gotten from prison warden which was very important in fulfilling the research.

They would provide dependable data about the number of people in the prisons and the offenses that were being accused of. Thesis Statement This research paper will intensively prove that mass incarceration is really the new Jim Crow. I will intensively look for articles, journals, books and other sources that support the fact that the mass incarceration is really the new Jim Crow. There will be a clear relationship between the current high numbers of imprisonment of most people with African origin in the jails of the United States of America. The difference in the condition of the prisons meant for African-American and those meant for the Native American will be widely looked at. Besides, there will be clear findings to compare the number of African –American prisoners as compared to the Native American.

The United States of America being one of the most powerful countries in the one has been one of the countries that racial discrimination is done on the broad daylight. This has a long history whereby the people of color who are not Native American have been at the receiving end of racial discrimination (Alexander & West, 2011). Back in the 19th Century, there were the Jim Crow rules that openly segregated the African- American people and they denied them equal rights with the Native American. This kind of discrimination has been extended to the current generation though in a different manner. Nowadays, numerous African-American people have gotten a great share of racial discrimination the same way it used to be done during the periods of Jim Crow.

This was as a result of the murder of Eric Garner who had been chocked by a police officer to death. This movement was calling for police officers accountable for their brutality towards the Black. During the protest, the Black held posters with Klein Theresa and Tim Thomas who were against the African-Americans. In addition to that, a biracial activist by the name Jay had organized streets protests supported by other white people calling for equality. Though Jay was not a Black, he had understood the misery that the Blacks go through due to racism in justice administration. Views of the US presidents Obama, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton and Bush about mass incarceration laws and legislation Former United States president Barrack Obama had a strong belief that mass incarceration had no benefit to the people of the United States of America.

He wanted the people of America to live in safer environments where justice prevailed. In that view, he created a presidential commission which was tasked with the duty of study mass incarceration and come up with the most dynamic reforms that would help in reducing mass incarceration. Further, he increased commutations whereby he would reduce prison sentences for those who had been jailed. In addition to that, he spearheaded the creation of laws that would ensure all prisons were in good conditions. They call for accountability among the police officers arrest or kill the innocent people. They want them to be arrested and convicted for their brutality. American jails are being built at an alarming speed (Carmen, 2008). They get filled very quickly and most people who are at the receiving end of all this are the African American.

People in the streets are running after the people of color. This discriminative nature of justice administration among the people of color can be comprehensively related to Jim Crow era (Carmen, 2008). The population of African-American people is about 13% of the whole American population. This quite a small number but I the American jails, over 40% of prisoners are of African origin (Appelt & Jarosch, 2010). Numbers do not lie and this is proof that there is ultimate discrimination when it comes to justice administration in the United States of America. It is wrong to conclude that African-American is the one who is fond of committing crimes that is why they mostly end up I prisons. Some might be in prisons for committing crimes due to poverty and unemployment.

However, this should not be the reason behind unfair justice administration in the United States (Pettigrew, 2015). Conditions of jails Jails are facilities where prisoners call home. This is places where those who have been fairly or unfairly convicted are locked in for a period of time as per the judgment. Though prisoners are considered to be wrongdoers, the fact remains that they are human beings. They are taken like a beast and their human rights are absolutely compromised. The jails are over-populated and this is becoming health-hazardous. A room that is supposed to hold ten prisoners is now holding about forty prisoners. Prisoners can hardly walk around the rooms due to congestion. Most of these prisons have no beds for African-American to sleep on.

Prisoners have to scramble for the food as the unlucky one goes for days without food. Most of the prisoners are extremely emaciated due to lack of enough food. There are numerous instances whereby prisoners fight to the death as they scramble for the little available food. In some instances, no food is provided to the prisoners and this leaves them in ultimate hunger. Countless cases have been witnessed whereby African-American prisoners die of hunger after going for quite a number of days without food. Flies are everywhere in these rooms and African-American are constantly attacked by them. There are many cases whereby cholera outbreak has been witnessed in these prisons. To make the matter worse, no emergency actions are taken to counteract these outbreaks.

Prisoners are left to fight for their own lives and the unlucky one succumb to these illnesses (Luna, Feld & Tonry, 2017). The case is very different in prisons that hold Native American. If one was jailed for committing crimes such as robbery, after he/she is done with her jail term, he goes back to the society and starts working in a way to get himself/herself living in a good manner. On the other hand, African-American who complete their jail terms goes back to the society having gained absolutely nothing important to add value into their lives. Instead, they come out more brutal and unfriendly and in most cases, they face rejection from society and most of them result in committing suicide (Anderson, 2016).

Some may even decide to continue with their criminal activities which result to them being re-arrested or killed. Reasons and factors for racial discrimination in justice administration that has led to mass incarceration in the United States In the United States, the war against drug abuse has been very stiff. Many private owners of prisons are lobbying to jail many people so that they can gain from them. They mostly use prisoners to work in private farms and as a result, they get some income. Some prisoners are also used to do so work in the prisons such as carpentry and the furniture they make as sold out by the jail owners. Besides, there are very long sentences for wrongdoers in the United States (Luna, Feld & Tonry, 2017).

Criminals more especially African-Americans and Latinos are sentences for a very long period of time that is not proportional to their offenses. Some of them had tried to migrate to the United States in such of green pasture. Those who have been lucky have been deported back in their countries but the unlucky one ends up in American prisons. The role of the society and the government in encouraging racial discrimination in the United States of America in justice administration Both the government and the American society have played a great role in encouraging racial discrimination in justice administration in the United States of America. The society has to be in the front line in encouraging racial discrimination in justice administration.

Most of the African-Americans who are in prisons might have been taken there through wrong accusations from the Native Americans. Besides, high rates of unemployment among African Americans have also resulted in mass incarceration as many of the start engaging in crimes. Immigration reasons were also the reasons behind mass incarceration of African-Americans. Those how used to migrate to the United States without the necessary documents were being arrested and jailed. Recommendations Racial discrimination in justice administration is a great vice and should be vehemently fought against. Governments, the society, and other agencies should stand firm against this vice. New York: New Press. Anderson, C. White rage: The unspoken truth of our racial divide. New York, NY: Bloomsbury USA, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.