via Wikimedia
There have been some recent, positive declines in statistics about mass incarceration, but it’s not all good news. Actually, the way that the system works has just changed. If we’re going to stop Black people from being targeted by the unjust prison system, we have to be aware of this.
Some states are reducing their prison population, but their jail population is going UP. Prisons are where you do long sentences whereas shorter stays happen in jails. Also, while some cities have shown a decrease in incarceration, in places outside of large cities, rates have increased.
According to the Vera Institute Of Justice, 8 states currently hold more people in jails than prisons. Meanwhile states like Kansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arkansas are imprisoning people at an all-time high! And that’s happening in BOTH prisons and jails for these states.
It would take over a century at the current rates for incarceration to decrease to where it was in the 1970’s. It’s increased 400% since then. And don’t forget, the USA is still the top imprisoning country in the world, with some states exceeding the incarceration rates of whole other COUNTRIES.
Locking people up is not a solution to every problem. IT IS a problem. Until the USA accepts that fact and takes the opportunity to start making a difference, Black communities will be terrorized by mass incarceration. Fighting against it means fighting for our lives!