Mass incarceration Public Health Crisis
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Transcript of Mass incarceration Public Health Crisis
Public Health or Law & Order
Mass Incarceration
Ragini Srikrishna
A National Guardsman stands at the ready at a Detroit intersection during the summer riots of 1967.
Do we now live in a
post-racial society?
But aren’t we seeing ever more black folks doing well?
1 In 3 Black Males Will Go To Prison In Their Lifetime†
†Bureau of Justice Statistics
economy
jobs
healthcare
It’s a Public Health Issue
A health crisis or public health crisis is
a difficult situation or complex health system
that affects humans in one or more geographic areas,
from a particular locality to encompass the entire planet.
2016 deaths due to drug overdose
59,000
every 3 weeksA 9/11
$78.5Bannual cost of
opioid epidemicPubl
ic H
ealth
Cris
is
CDC 2017
Doubling & more each decade!
War on drugs
3-strikes
Even authoritarian regimes with comparable
populations imprison far fewer people
Comparable democracies imprison
far fewer people
65%$
16%$12%$
7%$
White$ Hispanic$ Black$ Other$
%Popula(on*
%Popula;on$
Racial Composition of US
65%$
16%$12%$
7%$
34%$
22%$
35%$
9%$
White$ Hispanic$ Black$ Other$
%Popula>on$ %Prison$Popula>on$
Racial Disparity in US Prisons
14%$
35%$
53%$45%$
%$of$Drug$Users$ %$Drug$Arrests$ %$Drug$Convic7ons$ %$Imprisoned$
Ratio in Drug Cases African-Americans
Physical
Disease
HIV/AIDS 2x-7x
Hep C 8x-21x
STDs 1 in 3 women
Mental
Suicide & Violence
Suicide 2x-4x
Suicide in Jails
1/3 of all deaths
Violence 15% state prisoners
Drug Abuse
†Vera Institute of Justice 2014
How Incarceration Affects Communities
2.7M children have an incarcerated parent
†Wildeman 2014
Elevated rates of child homelessness† diminishing finances & strain on single mothers
7.8% higher infant mortality (in 2003•) as incarceration rate grew from 1973 level
•Vera Institute 2014
$80.0Bannual cost of
mass incarceration
Post-release disempowerment denial of opportunities housing, edu & voting
Why should we do something?
Economic
It isn’t working
we just can’t afford it and that money
can be better spent
Moral
For the same reasons we
fought the civil warand for civil rights because it’s the right thing to do!$12,731¶
Cost per student insecondary school
$31,286•
Cost per prison inmate
¶OECD•Vera Institute 2014
Political
We cannot disenfranchise vast
sections of our nation
5.85MªFelons disenfranchised
ªThe Guardian
“It is for us the living, rather, to be
dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus
far so nobly advanced.” Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
What should we do?Educate ourselves & others
• today’s a start • understand how we got here • learn what others are doing differently
Press for legislative change • press our state & federal representatives • join organizations working for change
Act • Volunteer our time & participate in change
ResourcesNation Inside http://nationinside.org
The New Jim Crow http://newjimcrow.com/take-action
The Sentencing Project http://sentencingproject.org/
Vera Institute for Justice http//vera.org/
“Slavery defined what it meant to be black (a slave),
and Jim Crow defined what it meant to be
black (a second-class citizen).
Today mass incarceration defines the meaning of blackness in America: black people, especially black
men, are criminals. That is what it means to be black.”
― Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.
KARL MARX