Incarceration and Social Inequality Essay

The recent increase in the number of incarcerated people has created a new form of social inequality. When people are incarcerated the form new minority group that has a lot in common "America's prisons and jails have produced a new social group, a group of social outcasts who are joined by the shared experience of incarceration, crime, poverty, racial minority, and low education." (Western, and Pettit). After spending time in jail people find it hard to fit back into the society due to certain factors, for instance, people who have been jailed have a hard time finding jobs. Criminal records coupled with inexperience makes most employers reject ex-convicts who apply for a job in their organizations or business. This situation causes a social inequality because people who have been incarcerated do not have the same opportunities as the other people in the same community. Prison facilities are meant to be correctional institutions that help the convicts reform into people who can integrate into the society without engaging in criminal activities. However, this is not the case because, after prison, the society does not want them back as they are still treated as criminals who have not reformed. Such treatment further enforces the social inequality that faces people who have been incarcerated.

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A large number of the people who have been incarcerated come from poverty-stricken areas, it might be argued out that people that live in poverty are more prone to get involved in criminal activities because they have no education. Lack of education means that they would experience difficulties in securing jobs, as a result, they turn to crime leaving their children with no one to pay for their education. With this kind of cycle, a whole community ends up not educated with children going through the same problems their parents went through. This situation creates inequality as the number of uneducated people keeps growing.

Prison records show that majority of the people who are incarcerated are African America people "African Americans have always been incarcerated at higher rates than whites" (Western, and Pettit), according to this article, the number of incarcerated Africa Americans has always been higher than the number of white people who are incarcerated at any given point in time. With such statistics, incarceration slowly starts creating a social inequality for the African American community. The first sign of this kind of social inequality is the recent rise in police brutality that has been directed towards the African American community, a big number of young African American males have been killed in police shootouts that have occurred during routine police checks or traffic stops. Innocent or not, the young men end up losing there lives because of the social inequality that has been caused by the incarcerations. This is because the African American males are perceived to be involved in criminal activities more often than they are not hence a police officer approaching an African American is always ready to use lethal force to contain the situation. With this type of bias against one race, social inequality is developed as on race or community faces higher risks than the other because of incarceration center statistics.

Lastly, incarceration creates social inequality as all the people who have passed through jail have records that can be accessed by employers, potential spouses, and friends. Incarceration records inhibit an ex-convict attempt to go back to the society and live a normal life. It would be hard for an ex-convict to find a partner as no one would want to get married someone who was once in jail for theft or other types of criminal offenses. With this kind of social rejection, the incarceration continues to create inequality as the ex-convicts do not receive the same privileges when compared to other people.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be argued out that incarceration is responsible for a number of social inequality situations such as racial profiling by the police officers, lack of jobs for people who have been in jail and low social economic status. Given that jails are meant to be correctional facilities that rehabilitate the inmates to prepare them to go back to the society as people who can contribute to the society positively; the fact that people who have gone to prison face tougher situations lack of jobs due to criminal records means that the correctional facilities do not accomplish their rehabilitation goal. It would be advisable that the criminal records be erased from the public after someone has successfully served their terms in jail, the only people who should be able to view criminal records should be the police department in case the e-convicts are involved in criminal activities. The prisons should also introduce projects that help find jobs and homes after they are released from prison because most of the people who have no place to go to end up getting arrested again as they have no place to go and no income.

Bibliography

Western, Bruce, and Becky Pettit. "Incarceration & Social Inequality".

Daedalus, vol 139, no. 3, 2010, pp. 8-19. MIT Press - Journals, doi:10.1162/daed_a_00019.