Black Women In Prison
The government creates legislation to hold these women back further economically; the policy changes the government puts in place creates a lack of resources, which makes the transition from prison life to “free life” more difficult for black women than it would be for other groups. An example of this legislation is the “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996”, because it is harder for women with mental health or drug abuse issues to access this financial help. In order to receive benefits, one has to prove their sobriety, when, as mentioned earlier, the prison system fails to rehabilitate it’s drug abusers (Freudenberg). This leaves previously incarcerated black women feeling targeted and isolated. Prisons …show more content…
In the prison system, inmates rely on prison guards for essential goods, which is why the women feel they have no choice but to suffer their abuse. Because these women feel helpless, there are no truly accurate statistics that can tell the specific amount of black women abused in prison. The lack of information is also because most jails don’t keep proper records of the various abuses women report (Isaac, Lockhart, Williams). This proves that these prisons do not care about the well being of these women, nor do they care that the sexual offenders are properly punished.
The women that do try to report prison guards end up even more damaged when their violators go unpunished. In a small study done on sexual abuse in US prisons, of the complaints that women filed, only 18% of male prison guards ended up with some type of punishment (Isaac, Lockhart, Williams). This lack of discipline for brutal crimes against black women sends a message to black women in prison is that they are invaluable. It “perpetuates the degrading images of black women as ‘unnatural, dirty, sick, and sinful’”
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When massive amounts of black women are put into prisons with women who carry infectious diseases, it puts the well-being of women of color at risk (Freudenberg). Incarcerated black women face many health problems; research shows that compared to other underprivileged women, “they have higher rates of recent substance use problems, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, and other sexually transmitted diseases, and mental health problems” (Freudenberg). In 2004, almost 73% of women in prisons had a mental health problem, or symptoms of a mental disorder, compared to 55% of incarcerated men (Incarcerated Women). These various health problems suffered by black women in prison are something they have to endure for the rest of their
David Peace Summary
96 Words | 1 PagesThe first issue that was discussed in the article was about David Peace. Peace talked about missing out on life as a young man and how he feared going out into the real world. This an effect that mass imprisonment could have on young black men. They adapt to life in prison where they are control and once they receive freedom it scares them. The reason for this issue is due to political socialization.
Jennifer Gonnerman
1500 Words | 6 PagesAs a young african american male, I’ve encountered many challenges and obstacles that has been tough to overcome for any male; especially male of color. Novelist Jennifer Gonnerman shared one forth of what African American males go through on a day to day basis, in her article, “Before the Law,” that sheds light on a particular incident about a kid from Bronx named Kalief Browder; who was falsely accused of taking a backpack from a New York resident on the day of Saturday, May 15, 2010. Kalief Browder spent the next two to three years confined in Rikers Island (Correctional Facility), which is a four-hundred-acre island in the EastRiver, between Queens and the Bronx. Kalief Browder was being charged with many charges such as robbery, grand
Mass Incarceration In Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow
358 Words | 2 PagesIt is an existing theory that our society is constructed via racial dimensions, and that racial equality is a figment of the imagination. This very principle is highlighted in Michelle Alexander’s novel, “The New Jim Crow.” The specific dimensions covered within the text include the unjust aspects of the federal drug policy, and by connection that of mass incarceration as well. Alexander claims that racism is still very prominent in present day society and is direct and frank about the heavy influence of white supremacy. One of the main arguments pushed by Alexander in this book is that mass incarceration is “ a stunningly comprehensive and well-disguised system of racialized social control that functions in a manner strikingly similar
Review Of Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness By Michelle Alexander
983 Words | 4 PagesANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Alexander, M. (2012). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: The New Press. Michelle Alexander in her book, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" argues that law enforcement officials routinely racially profile minorities to deny them socially, politically, and economically as was accustomed in the Jim Crow era.
The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration
983 Words | 4 PagesIn her book, The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander who was a civil rights lawyer and legal scholar, reveals many of America’s harsh truths regarding race within the criminal justice system. Though the Jim Crow laws have long been abolished, a new form has surfaced, a contemporary system of racial control through mass incarceration. In this book, mass incarceration not only refers to the criminal justice system, but also a bigger picture, which controls criminals both in and out of prison through laws, rules, policies and customs. The New Jim Crow that Alexander speaks of has redesigned the racial caste system, by putting millions of mainly blacks, as well as Hispanics and some whites, behind bars
The New Jim Crow Analysis
1721 Words | 7 PagesMichelle Alexander, similarly, points out the same truth that African American men are targeted substantially by the criminal justice system due to the long history leading to racial bias and mass incarceration within her text “The New Jim Crow”. Both Martin Luther King Jr.’s and Michelle Alexander’s text exhibit the brutality and social injustice that the African American community experiences, which ultimately expedites the mass incarceration of African American men, reflecting the current flawed prison system in the U.S. The American prison system is flawed in numerous ways as both King and Alexander points out. A significant flaw that was identified is the injustice of specifically targeting African American men for crimes due to the racial stereotypes formed as a result of racial formation. Racial formation is the accumulation of racial identities and categories that are formed, reconstructed, and abrogated throughout history.
Analysis Of Mapping The Margins By Kimberle Crenshaw
314 Words | 2 PagesBeing part of the different subgroups prevents them from getting everything they need and want. They are burdened by lack of income and jobs. Without these essential things many of them will not be able to take care of themselves nor their family. Crenshaw presents us with many examples of why colored women are more apt to being the victim of a violent
Black Men In The Criminal Justice System
800 Words | 4 Pages“African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population.” The majority group of this statistic are people who come from african american backgrounds. The fact that black people are to make up nearly half of the prison population alone, really conveys the rate at which they are being arrested. Black men are often victims of racial profiling by police. They are targeted by police officers, and security guards, and are accused of crimes unrelated to them, simply on the basis of their skin color.
Race In The Prison System Essay
965 Words | 4 PagesPeople of all different races and ethnicities are locked behind bars because they have been convicted of committing a crime and they are paying for the consequences. When looking at the racial composition of a prison in the United States, it does not mimic the population. This is because some races and ethnicities are over represented in the correctional system in the U.S. (Walker, Spohn, & DeLone, 2018). According Walker et al. (2018), African-Americans/Blacks make up less than fifteen percent of the U.S. population, while this race has around thirty-seven percent of the population in the correctional system today.
Black Women In Prison Essay
1435 Words | 6 PagesAlthough there may have been mild attempts to cease racism directed towards certain groups, these same efforts are absent within racial groups based on group members’ various ranges of skin tones, which Jill Viglione and other authors discuss in their article “The Impact of Light Skin on Prison Time for Black Female Offenders” (250). As numerous studies show, black women in particular make up a large proportion of women arrested and put in prisons within the country. Women with lighter skin tones receive lighter sentences than darker women, along with those who possess other attributional European features, such as straight hair and narrow noses. These individuals tend to also be more included in mainstream society, “thus afforded greater opportunities and privileges” and “more likely to be members of higher social class and achieve a higher occupational and educational level than their darker skinned counterparts” (251). These European features are seen as more attractive, as women with “blacker” features like curly hair and dark skin are stereotyped as lazy and “welfare queens,’ which are ultimately determinants of prison sentences and
Essay On Mass Incarceration
643 Words | 3 PagesOver the decades, mass incarceration has become an important topic that people want to discuss due to the increasing number of mass incarceration. However, most of the people who are incarceration are people of color. This eventually leads to scholars concluding that there is a relationship between mass incarceration and the legacy of slavery. The reason is that people of color are the individuals who are overrepresented in prison compared to whites. If you think about it, slavery is over and African Americans are no longer mistreated; however, that is not the case as African Americans continue to face oppression from the government and police force.
Freedom Is A Constant Struggle: Chapter Summary
540 Words | 3 PagesIn her other book chapter 5 “Are Prisons Obsolete?” Angela Davis conveys the ideology of imposers using racism’s and prison labor for profit in advantage to the elites. She expresses her claim by including the data of black males
Angela Davis Are Prisons Obsolete Analysis
1191 Words | 5 PagesAngela Davis demonstrates the ongoing violent abuse as she quotes a report on sexual maltreatment in women’s prisons, “We found that male correctional employees have vaginally, anally, and orally raped female prisoners and sexually assaulted and abused them” (Davis 78). However disturbing this blunt sexual contact that male officers take with the vulnerable prisoners may be, the officers adopt even more severe tactics to harass and abuse the women as they often utilize “mandatory pat-frisks or room searches to grope women 's breasts, buttocks, and vaginal areas...” (Davis 79). To add insult to injury, women are virtually incapable of escaping from their abuser(s). Prison employees upkeep their inappropriate behavior as it is believed they will “rarely be held accountable, administratively or criminally” (Davis 78).
Argumentative Essay On Female Inmates
704 Words | 3 PagesIn my opinion, male officers should not be employed in adult female correctional facilities. The primary and critical reason for this is the fact that 40 to 60 percent of women incarcerated have already been the victim of physical or sexual abuse in their life time. In the 1990s, the sexual demeaning behavior of women inmates by their male guards came to light. From comments about their bodies to molestation and forced sex by men who exhibited authority, a problem had been identified.
Analysis Of The Film 'Concrete'
1389 Words | 6 PagesAlthough it is studied and deeply researched by criminologists, the general public may not generally think about the victimization that inmates have gone through. Advocates and victims of crime were able to have a better understanding of how these inmates victimized themselves and in response, committed acts of violence (Bernstein & Heriza, 2009). An inmate shared that he had been sexually abused for much of his childhood which made him feel angry and not understand why such a crime was done to him (Bernstein & Heriza, 2009). In response to that victimization, he began to engage in violent crime which resulted in his admission into the high security Philadelphia prison (Bernstein & Heriza,
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