Behind Bars: The Disproportionate Mass Incarceration of Black Americans as a Method of Modern Day Slavery
From Texas Law - The University of Texas at Austin
My work with voter disenfranchisement has often led me to understanding peripheral issues; one such issue I learned about was the unlawful, biased imprisonment of Black Americans in the United States. This denial of voting rights via imprisonment has historically been used to suppress Black political voice and power along with serving to reject the 15th amendment protections. However, it has also been used to contradict the 13th amendment, marking the abolition of slavery. Incarceration ensured that voting rights were forsaken and thus Black men in particular became subject to racial bias in the jailing system. The sentencing project, an organization dedicated to bringing awareness to this issue, has shared startling statistics on this subject:
“Black Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at nearly 5 times the rate of white Americans”
“In 12 states, more than half the prison population is Black: Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia”
This is impactful because the Black population in the U.S. is only about 13%, so a clear prejudice is shown. One of the most concerning problems with this topic is the labor issue that occurs in the prison system. Prison labor produced approximately $2 billion dollars in revenue for both private and state companies, however the people themselves work for a fraction of minimum wage. Vera.org stated that “In California, incarcerated people battle fires in 24-hour shifts for as little as $2.90 a day” showing the severity of this crisis: a regression back to forced and nearly free labor is playing out in the U.S.’s prisons. This is particularly prevalent in the South where Black men are incarcerated at a higher rate than any other region in the U.S. and, as some studies have shown, in the world.
From Prison Policy Initiative
This is not only a clear violation of human rights but also a dehumanizing way to further exploit the Black American population. The lack of pay and labor rights show that racial discrimination has pervaded our society and corrupted our systems. Most of the 800,000 prison laborers are forced to work and must either keep the jails running- cleaning, maintenance, food prep, etc.- or work for government or miscellaneous private sectors (Economic Policy Institute). Though private employers may pay more on paper, in reality much of the pay goes towards different fees and little goes to the person. This is similar to the “13th amendment loophole” of debt peonage people used to justify forced labor, as the Economic Policy Institute notes.
This issue is in dire need of addressing. Awareness is not an ask but a need, such injustices cannot stand and continue to plague our society. We cannot advance without first understanding and confronting such problems.
In order to learn more, here is a great article that outlines the issue very clearly: https://www.epi.org/publication/rooted-racism-prison-labor/