The Growing Prison Industrial Complex - 1700 Words

The growing Prison Industrial Complex is an intricate web of profit-maximizing business endeavors at the expense of the livelihood of people of color in the continental United States and abroad. With immigration from Mexico and Latin America increasing each year and definitions of who is â€Å"legal† becoming more constricting as the Obama administration cracking down on illegal border crossing, undocumented immigrants are the fastest growing prison population. This research projects aims to look how migrant detention centers are growing under the Obama Administration and how privatization affects their ability to provide adequate and safe conditions for those under their care. Journal articles, academic writings, and narrative books have been used as a foundation for this research paper. Both public and private interests have found ways to profit from detaining migrant workers and have even gone as far to manipulate policy in order to ensure their facilities remain full. These tactics have had profound affects on Latino communities and have resulted in a plethora of physical, sexual, and mental abuse claims from detainees. The United States has come a long way from accepting â€Å"huddled masses yearning to breathe free†. Especially since such masses, with the collapse of several U.S. instituted governments in Central and South American happened to be primarily non-white people who can generate profit for the ever-expanding prison i ndustry. In 2013, 990,553 people grantedShow MoreRelatedAmerican Incarceration : Where We Are, And What Can Be Done?1518 Words   |  7 Pagesgenerating a profit for shareholders. With a 500% increase in inmates that is rivalled by no other country, the United States leads the world in imprisoning a fast-growing portion of its population. It is without a doubt that adverse changes in policy regarding imprisonment along with the formation and privatization of the prison industrial complex contributes substantially to the state of mass incarceration in the United States and will continue to shape its future for the years to come. Read MorePrison Industrial Complex Economics And The United States1157 Words   |  5 Pagesother country. In the article â€Å"Prison Industrial Complex Economics†, it states, â€Å"the United States has approximately 6.5 million people under the criminal justice supervision. Incarcerated rate has grown from 176 in 1973 up to 700 in t he year of 2000† (Waquant). Incarceration is a big business that feeds into drug violence, corrupted guards, and racism in criminal justice system, taxpayer cost, and racism in the criminal system and through privatization of prisons. Drug violence The United StatesRead MoreThe Prison Industrial Complex : How Do We Define It?1640 Words   |  7 PagesWhat if I told you that prisons in America aren t built for the main purpose of locking up â€Å"criminals† and making them better to re enter society and keeping other citizens safe but for some companies to make profit off of cheap labor? In essence that is the prison industrial complex. How do we define it? A few define it as a term that is used to explain rapid expansion of the US inmate population to the political influence of private prison companies and businesses that supply goods and servicesRead MoreThe Prison Industrial Complex Feels Like A Dirty Phrase1610 Words   |  7 PagesThe prison industrial complex feels like a dirty phrase, an almost unspoken taboo in this world. However, unlike most taboos, it is an unspoken taboo. No one likes to discuss the oppresion that is happening to a group of marginalized people. It is slavery, and unfortunately there is no other way to phrase it. Prisoners are being put to work, for cents an hour. They are being kept in cages, the conditions of which are atrocious, and then are let out for just enough activity and roaming time so theyRead MoreThe Prison Industrial Complex Within The U.s. Essay2151 Words   |  9 Pagesof the Prison Industrial Complex within the U.S. Following the privatisation of the prison industry in the 1970’s, the prison population of the U.S. has increased by an estimated 500%. Despite this, statistics suggests that overall reported crime rates have remained relatively stable. (Fortner, 2013). A question is raised then, as to why incarceration rates would be on the rise despite little change in crime. This essay will attempt to answer this question and to make sense of the Prison IndustrialRead MoreHow Does Lack Of Support System And Resulting Poverty Influence Prisoner Re Entry?916 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction: (1.5-2) (Story on prisoner and his life after prison here) In 2014, the United States incarcerated 449,000 newly convicted offenders while releasing 636,300 inmates (Carson, 2015). Upon release, offenders were expected to be able to function back in society under parole supervision. This is not the case for many offenders. As they are released from prison, they lack the necessary skills, education, opportunities and support system to successfully reintegrate back into society (PetersiliaRead MoreThe Prison System Of America1052 Words   |  5 PagesThe â€Å"Prison Industrial Complex† was a term that was used by anti-prison activist within the prison abolishment movement to argue the attendant interest of prison industrialization, and t development of a minority prison labor force (Davis, 2003). This giant prison enterprise is an essential component of the U.S. economy, and has as its purposes such as profit, social control, and an interweaving of private business and government. These giant financial institutions recognized that pri son buildingRead MoreDownsizing Of The American Penal System1474 Words   |  6 Pagesrehabilitation and second was to find a way to stabilize the size of the U.S. prison system. A National Advisory Commission report from 1973 was documented saying that â€Å"no new institutions for adults should be built and existing institutions for juveniles should be closed†. They also concluded that â€Å"the prison, the reformatory and the jail have achieved only a shocking level of failure†. (1973, pp 523) The official association for prisons and jails in the United States, the American Correctional AssociationRead MoreAngela Davis and Feminism Essay1562 Words   |  7 Pagesher determination to combat inequality in gender roles, sexuality, and sexual identity through feminism. I will give a brief biography of Davis in order for the readers to better understand her background, but the primary focus of this paper is the prison industry and its effect on female sexuality. Angela Davis is an international activist/ organizer, author, professor, and scholar who defends any form of oppression. She was born January 26, 1944 in Birmingham, AL to Frank and Sally Davie. Both ofRead MoreSociologists Are Angry And You Should Be Too : Reflection On Readings Essay1747 Words   |  7 Pageson drugs as a factor leading to the rampant racism in police forces across America, which threw kindling on the fire of the Black Lives Matter movement, but that was not one of Western’s concerns while writing his paper. He discusses the prison industrial complex in great detail. With prisoners a social class all their own, equivalent to slaves, one could compare Western’s work to the observations of Weber. Prisoners have no property, very little wealth and almost no prestige in society, getting no