By: Cole Gaynor
The U.S. prison system in itself is a crime
The United States is notorious for its criminalization of drugs, especially those considered safer or more benign by medical experts, such as marijuana. The country has some of the harshest punishments for drug use or possession, directly leading to the current crisis of mass incarceration. As a result, incarceration and drug criminalization are interconnected, complicating the role of the modern justice system. Along with the history and politics around our system of policing, drug policy and incarceration rates leave the American prison system flawed and broken.
The United States seemingly outlawed slavery in 1865 with the Thirteenth Amendment. In this famous and influential moment for U.S. history, the country outlawed forced and involuntary labor almost entirely. However, the caveat of prisoners not receiving this protection – “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime” – created an important loophole that allows modern slavery: prison labor. It was still legal to extract free or cheap labor from those who formerly were slaves, as long as they were first arrested, a practice which has continued for generations. The continued incarceration of Americans led to a slew of laws designed to trap people in a complex and exploitative incarceration system, and its effects are seen to this day.
In the Louisiana State Penitentiary, nicknamed Angola after a slave plantation that stood on the same ground, prisoners are used for their labor to pick cotton for the prison. The typical wage for a prisoner is only $0.20 an hour, although Louisiana allows for prison wages as low as $0.04 per hour. With this kind of minimum wage loophole, states and police forces are incentivized to keep these prisons full for labor, leading to the development of private prisons. Many private prisons contracted by state governments require the prison to be kept above a certain capacity, with quotas on prisoner intakes that mandate that police arrest a minimum number of people. The existence of private prisons alone reveals the transparent profit motive of the U.S. justice system: injustice is built into its laws. With 46 percent of federal prisoners being incarcerated for a drug offense, drug criminalization is an important part of this destructive legislation.
Drug criminalization laws, which assign jail time to drug abuse or possession, are a long standing part of this labor racket and have roots in openly discriminatory policy. In the 60s and 70s, a time now known for the rise of drug use, especially marijuana, politicians weaponized drug criminalization. Former aide to President Nixon John Ehrlichman admits that drug criminalization was a political tool: “We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.” These policies do not exist by accident. Historically, politicians have utilized drug criminalization to support their own agendas and be re-elected.
While the clear intentions of drug policy may not be so evident today, the same systemic issues can be found in drug criminalization. Many communities still are held in poverty generation after generation by high rates of arrests and prison time, much of which stems from drug criminalization. More recently, drug demonization has been utilized by politicians in other forms of suppression: drug tests for welfare recipients and at polling stations. This disproportionately affects disadvantaged communities, which politicians are not blind to. They are using the common negative perception of drugs to support unethical labor practices, either directly through prisons or indirectly through the enforcement of desperate poverty. Stigmas around drugs and incarceration prevent people from improving their lives by cutting off access to employment and welfare. Keys to survival are hindered by incarceration and stigmatization, and are used as political tools. However, just as targeted legislation can present a barrier to justice for drug prisoners, it is also a necessary tool to help actively mend the existing problems surrounding prison abuses. Legalization and decriminalization is the bare minimum.
Although today’s legalization efforts are a step in the right direction, many fail in a crucial way: they neither free existing prisoners nor clear the record of drug prisoners. With the persistence of a charge on their criminal record, many felons will still fall victim to the societal stigma and vilification of drugs and struggle to find employment. In order to fully address the issues ex-inmates face and to try to repair the damage caused by marijuana criminalization and a predatory prison-industrial complex, legalization efforts must take a more active role in clearing the criminal records of the convicted and freeing existing prisoners. Ultimately, drug criminalization, inextricably tied to stigmatization, harms individuals and communities. Criminalization does little to assist those suffering from substance addiction, and hurts more than it helps, denying necessary medical attention.
https://images.app.goo.gl/R5UP2DycRqpCN7y37
“1 in 5 prisoners are imprisoned for drug-related crimes”
https://images.app.goo.gl/nS7NXLM7rVJgYVYR6
“Massive United States incarceration rate compared to other nations”