Prison Reform / Mass Incarceration / Death Penalty

It is difficult to face the outcome of historical slander of darker-skinned Americans as it is

still relevant in the modern United States. It is haunting to discover that of 785,000 inmates in

2008, black Americans were incarcerated at a rate six and a half times higher than white Americans

and the state of racial inequality and stereotyping in the United States has an uncomfortable impact

on these numbers (Sabol, West, & Cooper, 2009). The frightening statistic that the United States

accounts for four percent of the world population but a quarter of its prison population proves that

reforming mass incarceration, as well as addressing racial stereotypes within the police and prison

system, is vital to achieving a state of wellbeing across America, regardless of race (Booker, et al.,

2019)

During the Great Depression, it was not uncommon for impoverished black mothers to

agree to send their sons to work on a farm for white couples. In the 1933 case of George Armwood,

his mother’s decision turned into a story of his demise. John Richardson, his white employer,

conspired with Armwood to steal money from eighty-two-year-old Mary Denston. The story

transformed into accusations of assault, and later rumors circulated Princess Anne, Maryland that

embellished the story, such as that Armwood had bitten off Denston’s breasts. Comforted by the

fact that their actions would have no legal consequences, a lynch mob swarmed the jail that held

George Armwood, throwing stones and bricks at the police, causing pandemonium. Inside, several

blacks climbed on top of the cages in terror, fearing the mob would indiscriminately take any black

man they saw. A merciless crowd of whites used a battering ram to break open the wooden prison

door and ran up the stairs in search of Armwood. He was found, stabbed, and dragged down the

hall, then the stairs, hitting his head on each metal step. Outside the jail, the crowd stomped and

hit him – one teenager jumped on Armwood’s back and cut off his ear. Armwood was then hanged
on a tree near the local judge’s home while he was beaten as his body still twitched. His body was

doused in gasoline and burned and then left in a downtown lumberyard to be seen by passing black

children on their way to school the following morning. With the brutal murder of a black man on

their hands, the white mob was never prosecuted (Ifill, 2007).

The continued racial stereotype of bestial black men takes form again in the 1989 Central

Park jogger case. Now seen as a tragic case of wrongful conviction, the mass hysteria induced by

race myths and fear of crime caused five young men to be accused of raping and beating an affluent

white woman. Trisha Meili was exercising on a popular running path in Central Park when she

was attacked, raped and left unconscious. A police investigation was intent on identifying the

criminal and Meili’s memory loss following her coma only complicated their search. Detectives

began questioning teenagers who had been in the area at the time. This included five black and

Hispanic boys from Harlem: Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Yusef Salaam, Anton McCray,

and Korey Wise – all under sixteen years old. Each were forced to confess to the assault, but none

confessed to the rape or named the rapist. There was no physical evidence against them – no

fingerprints, no footprints in the mud, no hair, and none of their semen at the scene. Despite

inconsistencies in their stories and the conditions under which the boys were questioned, all five

were convicted and sentenced to five to fifteen years in prison for offences related to the assault

and rape. The first reporting of the attack in April 1989 stated that the woman was “raped, severely

beaten and left unconscious in an attack by as many as 12 youths, who roamed the park in a

rampage Wednesday night…” From this point on, the victim of the crime seemed powerless at the

hands of a viscous group of men. The article was the first to coin the term “wilding”, suggesting

savagery and later becoming a term to describe “sexual violence committed by a group of urban
teenagers”. This term would be used to describe future attacks identified as dangerous, sinister

youth crime in New York (Stratton, 2015).

The community’s desperation to find who had committed such a heinous act of violence

allowed five adolescents to be sent to prison until the man who actually raped and beat Meili

confessed in 2002 and his DNA matched that found on a sock at the crime scene. The boys, now

men … Although it is impossible to prove that the five faced this injustice due to the bestial black

man stereotype, as it may have occurred shielded from public view or subconsciously, to state the

stereotypes had no play in the case due to the inexplicit nature of the media and prosecution’s

racist views would be inaccurate. As told by Charles Warren, a renowned legal thinker, “the Court

is not an organism dissociated from the conditions and history of the times in which it exists… its

judges are… men whose views are necessarily, though by no conscious intent, affected by…

environment and by the impact of history past and present…” (Duru, 2004). However, the

discourse surrounding the trial mirrors that of the 1931 Scottsboro Boys case, including exhibiting

three central characteristics: the portrayal of the subjects lacking meaningful analysis, rushing to

judgement, and being sub-human. Reports of the boys mimicked that of cases in the era of lynch

mobs, stating that they appeared to be laughing, smug, and showing no remorse. Although many

publications suggested the five were sub-human and animalistic, one suggested the youths were

sub-animal (Cameron, 1989).

Systematic racism

Justice for white women > Justice for black women

 Ending mass incarceration first beings with addressing the systemic racism and economic

inequities that lead to it. Mass incarceration rates in America plague the nation with the aftermath

of sentencing and the tendencies of those who are placed in prison. The majority of those

incarcerated are people of color. The United States holds five percent of the population, but twenty

five percent of imprisoned peoples. The dehumanizing practices of police in American prisons are

Change requires a shift from imprisonment to restoration and rehabilitation (see note of

stats) Strengthening the bonds between families and their communities and investing in them

will help dismantle the carceration state from outside the bounds of the prison system – the

unseen affected lives of what prisoners’ incarceration leaves behind. Women, especially black

women, suffer the most – this is unjust and unequal.

Although the United States under President Donald Trump has enacted the First Step Act

in December 2018, it lives up to its name by providing the bare minimum beginning towards

reform needed to change the way America handles the imprisoned. Congress must also do more

in addressing the race relations with incarceration as well as the large number of Americans who

are imprisoned. Prison reform is a bipartisan issue as people’s lives need to be placed over political

agendas. Although prisons remain to be for-profit institutions, new legislation may move towards

more inclusive reform, such as integrating police forces and communities, lighter sentencing for

nonviolent crimes, and improving the treatment of those incarcerated, especially people of color.

A federal program should provide incentives for prisons to decarcerate and punish those

who continue mass incarcerating. Eliminate bail and fines and fees in order to cease keeping less

fortunate behind bars due to their inability to pay these and causing more difficulty adjusting to
life after prison if they couldn’t afford bail in the first place, another thing perpetuating the poverty

cycle

The relation between economic position, race, and education directly affect incarceration

patterns. After incarceration, the chance of being employed decreases, as well as the chance of

making a substantial living to escape poverty (Sykes & Pettit, 2015). The incarceration rates in the

United States have become the highest of the developed world (Temin, 2017). Temin, an economic

historian, lays out in his paper that a higher incarceration rate does not equate a lower crime rate.

The only way to obliterate criminal activity in a community is by incarcerating 100% of its citizens.

Thus, one can conclude a connection between poverty and the chance of incarceration. Not only

does the United States of America have an issue with the explosion of the prison system (DuVernay

& Averick, 2017), but incarceration permeates through generations. Not only are incarcerated

parents unable to enter the workforce and provide for their families, leading to the increased

dependency on welfare systems, but the absence of a stable parental unit leads to the destruction

of the child’s character and idea of self-worth, which leads to social exclusion (Sykes & Pettit,

2015). This pattern bears resemblance to the problems faced by African Americans during the

Civil Rights movement as few began grasping political roles, and the many years of racism and

deprecation caused insecurities in social mobility.

Bibliography
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DuVernay, A., & Averick, S. (Directors). (2017). 13th [Motion Picture].
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