What is Mass Incarceration?
The United States has more prisoners and higher rates of incarceration than any other nation in the world. According to The Sentencing Project, there are 2.2 million people in US prisons and jails, and we have seen a 500% increase in prison population in the last 40 years alone. Evidence tells us that large-scale imprisonment is not effective in improving public safety, especially when many prisons focus on punishment rather than rehabilitation. Many scholars see mass incarceration as modern day slavery, considering the disproportionate amount of black prisoners we have and the amount of companies that profit off of prison labor.
This guide examines the many layers of mass incarceration, including the prevalence of private for-profit prisons, the war on drugs, and more.
About the Guide Creator
Sara Severns '22 earned her art education degree and a former student library assistant. Along with holding a student leader position at the circulation desk, she designed library displays on many different topics of interest since 2019.
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Duped: Why Innocent People Confess - And Why We Believe Their Confessions by Call Number: HV8073.3 .K37 2022ISBN: 9781633888081Publication Date: 2022-06-15
Manifesting Justice: Wrongly Convicted Women Reclaim Their Rights by Call Number: KF9756 .B44 2022ISBN: 9780806541518Publication Date: 2022-05-31
Still Doing Life: 22 Lifers, 25 Years Later by Call Number: K5105.5 .Z44 2022ISBN: 9781620976487Publication Date: 2022-03-15
Black in America: The Paradox of the Color Line by Call Number: 305.896073 B816bLISBN: 9781509531387Publication Date: 2020-02-11
Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration by ISBN: 9780674919235Publication Date: 2019-03-04
Inside Private Prisons: An American Dilemma in the Age of Mass Incarceration by ISBN: 9780231542319Publication Date: 2018-07-31
From Slave Ship to Supermax: Mass Incarceration, Prisoner Abuse, and the New Neo-Slave Novel by ISBN: 9781439914168Publication Date: 2017-11-30
Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration--and How to Achieve Real Reform by ISBN: 9780465096916Publication Date: 2017-02-07
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Call Number: 364.3496073 A377n1ISBN: 1595586431Publication Date: 2012-01-16
13th (Netflix)
From slave to criminal with one amendment; Scholars, activists and politicians analyze the criminalization of African Americans and the prison boom in the United States.
PBS Frontline: Prison State
FRONTLINE takes you to the epicenter of the raging debate about prison reform. "Prison State" follows the lives of four individuals in Kentucky's criminal justice system, as the state tries to interrupt the cycle of mass incarceration.
Rikers: An American Jail
Of the more than 7,500 people detained at Rikers Island on any given day, almost 80% have not yet been found guilty or innocent of the charges they face. All are at risk in the pervasive culture of violence that forces people to come to terms with what they must do for their own survival.
Other Documentaries
Crime + Punishment (Hulu) - The practice of policing based on quotas — requiring officers to arrest a minimum number of people within a particular time frame — was outlawed in New York City in 2010. But outlawing quotas didn’t make them go away. This film chronicles the real struggles of a group of whistleblower cops in NYC as they fight back against the illegal arrest quotas they’re pressured to abide by.
Grass is Greener (Netflix) - Experts explore America’s complicated relationship with weed, and how it ignited not only the jazz and hip hop scene, but also a war on drugs steeped in racial injustice.
Time: The Kalief Browder Story (Netflix) - This series traces the tragic case of Kalief Browder, a Black Bronx teen who spent three horrific years in jail, despite not being convicted of a crime.
This 2020-21 display was completed by Santino Diaz-Palma, Shae Kilgore, and Sara Severns in a project initiated by Abby Noland.
- The Sentencing ProjectThe Sentencing Project's mission is to promote effective and humane responses to crime that minimize imprisonment and criminalization of youth and adults by promoting racial, ethnic, economic, and gender justice. Read more about what they do under the "About Us" tab on their webpage.
- BallotpediaWith Ballotpedia, you can find sample ballots by precinct for upcoming elections. Having a sense of your candidates' platforms will allow you to be more informed and vote for those who are pushing reform.
- UMU Civic CornerLocated near the KHIC Cafe and the B&B Cafe on campus, you can register to vote, request an absentee ballot, or write and mail physical letters to your current representatives.