“Prisons Make Us Safer”
by Victoria Law
This book dissects and debunks twenty of the most popular myths around the causes of the prison boom, the idea that prisons are “service providers”, who is affected by mass incarceration, and how we approach the end of mass incarceration.
“Instead of addressing underlying trauma, prison inflicts it as an everyday practice.”
MY TAKEAWAYS
The US prison population has grown by about 500% over the past 40 years. The total number of people under some form of carceral control (including probation and parole) is about 7 million.
Violent crime in the United States has fallen more than 51% since 1991, though this does not correlate with the rising rate of incarceration.
"In 1973, the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals found that 'the prison, the reformatory and the jail had achieved only a shocking record of failure. There is overwhelming evidence that these institutions create crime rather than prevent it.' The commission recommended that 'no new institutions for adults should be built and existing institutions for juveniles should be closed.'"
Prisons fail to address root causes of behaviors deemed “criminal” and actually replicate the trauma and societal failings that led to said behavior (thus exacerbating the original problem[s]).
Prisons (nor police) have never been equipped with the tools for solving social, cultural, or economic issues that people face, thus their only purpose is to punish, confine, and control.
By removing people from society and their communities, prisons actually deter people from taking responsibility for the harm they’ve caused or make amends with those affected. Restorative and transformative justice practices offer more productive and effective alternatives.
The sole purpose of—or problem with—prisons is not exploiting prison labor - this is simply a side effect of larger systemic issues and the overall failure of the prison industrial complex in “preventing” or “fixing” crime and social issues.
Human trafficking is defined by “involuntary labor obtained through force, fraud or coercion”… virtually all prison labor is coerced (directly or indirectly) despite being labelled “voluntary”.
Focusing on non-violent drug “offenders” does little to address the larger issues created by mass incarceration. “If every person incarcerated for drug offenses were released tomorrow, that still leaves over 1.2 million people in prison.”
The current criminal punishment system largely fails to address the needs of those affected by harm in order to facilitate healing. Victims of harm have little say in the outcome of a person’s charge, trial, or sentencing and then are left to heal with little to no real resources provided.
“Mass incarceration drains resources that could be used instead to address underlying causes of criminalized actions and harm, thus [actually] promoting greater safety.”
"What does it mean to rehabilitate a person to their former state if that state involves poverty, racism, unemployment, unstable housing, and/or violence? Can a person be rehabilitated if they have never been habilitated (or made fit or capable for society)?”