Mass Incarceration and Its Historical Context

Mass Incarceration

• A key institution within the Arc of Expulsion, which began in the late 20th century.
• A new carceral institution associated with the Arc of Racial Profiling, linked to the crisis of slavery, Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights Era.
• A period of significant penal change in the United States after 1980, marked by:
  • A sharp turn away from rehabilitation toward punishment.
  • Mandatory sentences.
  • Solitary confinement.
  • The return of the death penalty.
• Rooted in political economy, social change, and institutional/political change.
• The era of mass incarceration saw the rolling back of juvenile reform efforts.
• Imprisonment rates peaked between 2006 and 2009, although prison populations had decreased by 20% from the peak by 2022.
• Criticized for being racist, ineffective, costly, and inhumane by the first decade of the 21st century.
• Described in both quantitative and qualitative terms:
  • Quantitative:
    • Scale, including a 4-5 times increase in the rate of incarceration between 1975 and 2005.
    • A 9x Black to White imprisonment ratio at its peak.
  • Qualitative:
    • Conditions and practices within prisons, such as overcrowding, solitary confinement, lockdowns, and inadequate medical/mental health care.

Fear of Crime

• Listed as one of the causes of mass incarceration.
• High homicide rates became a symbolically important component of the "urban crisis" in the 1960s and 1970s, which helped power the "punitive turn" and the revitalization of the death penalty.
• The 1970s were referred to as "fear years," marked by serial killers, revolutionary murders (SLA, BGF), gun violence, and criminological pessimism.

“Toxic Cocktail” of Prison Conditions

• Describes the combination of:
  • Chronic illnesses (both physical and mental).
  • Drug use.
  • Aging among prisoners.
  • Lack of adequate procedures, infrastructure, and professional staff for health care delivery.
  • Chronic-hyper overcrowding.
• These conditions represent the road to the Brown v. Plata Supreme Court decision.

Dignity (Human Dignity)

• Respect for human dignity is presented as the basic concept underlying the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, as stated by Justice Kennedy in Brown v. Plata.
• Justice Brennan's conception of dignity in Furman v. Georgia viewed barbaric punishments as treating people as nonhumans, inconsistent with the premise that even a criminal retains common human dignity.
• The old common sense about prisoners as irredeemable contrasts with a newer understanding that they are capable of reform and maturation and are vulnerable to violence and ill-health, implying a recognition of their dignity.
• San Martin's closing of the infiernillos in Peru can be seen in light of changing views of morality and human rights, which are presented as elements of successful abolitions.

Chronic-Hyper Overcrowding

• Identified as a transformation of prisons in the mass incarceration era.
• Explicitly listed as a key element of the "toxic cocktail" of prison conditions that led to the Brown v. Plata lawsuit.
• A qualitative aspect of mass incarceration.
• Listed as a reason why the penitentiary model failed historically.

Chronic Illness

• Chronic illness (both physical and mental) among prisoners is identified as part of the humanitarian crises occurring in mass incarceration prisons.
• Specifically listed as an element of the "toxic cocktail" of prison conditions leading to Brown v. Plata.
• The concentration of prisoners with drug use-related health problems contributed to a crisis of medical neglect.

Brown v. Plata (2011)

• A Supreme Court decision in 2011 that addressed the crisis of medical neglect in California prisons, which resulted from chronic illness, aging, drug use, lack of staff/infrastructure, and overcrowding.
• Listed as a key court case and a sign of the crisis of mass incarceration.
• The case involved a 3-judge court prior to reaching the Supreme Court.
• Following this decision, Realignment in California led to a significant decline in state prison and parole populations but an increase in county jail and probation cases after 2011, although county supervision declined after 2013.
• Justice Kennedy's vision in the case affirmed the dignity of prisoners.
• The decision is also noted as marking a period of court intervention in prison reform, following an era of court retreat after the Prison Litigation Reform Act.

“Prison Fix”

• Associated with Ruth Wilson Gilmore, describes how the new California prison system was constructed deliberately, though not conspiratorially, out of various surpluses that were not used in other ways.
• It utilized surpluses of finance capital, labor, land, and political action.
• Shifts in California in the 1970s provided the foundation for these surpluses, enabling prison building to absorb idle land, invest capital via public debt, and take low-wage workers off the streets.
• This enabled the California Department of Corrections (CDC) to expand significantly.

Four Surpluses of California Prison Boom

• Specific surpluses that Ruth Wilson Gilmore argues were utilized in the construction of the California prison system:
  • Surplus finance capital: Resulted from stalled state projects (like building universities) due to political opposition, leading to capital being invested via public debt in prison construction.
  • Surplus labor: Created by changes in the location of industrial investment and the loss of high-paying industrial jobs in California, resulting in a large pool of low-wage workers who were taken off the streets by imprisonment.
  • Surplus land: Refers to idle land that was used for building new prisons, many of which were located in the Central Valley.
  • Surplus political action: Described as "The Non-State State," this refers to political capacity that was directed towards prison construction. The state's need to legitimate itself in the face of voter disapproval contributed to this.

Preservation Through Transformation

• A concept used to describe the historical evolution of racial control systems in the United States.
• Suggests that while older systems like slavery or Jim Crow may end, their core function of maintaining racial hierarchy is preserved by transforming into new carceral institutions.
• Examples include:
  • The transformation of slavery into Convict Lease after Reconstruction.
  • The transformation of Jim Crow into Mass Incarceration after the Civil Rights Movement.
• The 13th Amendment's exception for punishment for crime permitted convict leasing as a preservation of slavery.

Law & Order

• Identified as a political change associated with "Governing through Crime" and a myth of mass incarceration.
• Emerged after the crisis of segregation as a substitute for maintaining racial separation and served as a key element of the "war on crime".
• The myth posits that crime creates a debt that only punishment can repay.
• This myth, linked to repayment/debt, has seen revitalization in the post-pandemic period, associated with issues like retail theft.

War on Drugs

• Identified as a primary institutional mechanism driving mass incarceration.
• President Nixon's "War on Drugs" opened the door wider to federal jurisdiction in criminal justice.
• It was escalated under Reagan/Bush I.
• Also listed as a myth of mass incarceration, linked to the idea of reform and idleness.

War on Poverty

• A federal policy initiative.
• Historically, it followed the Civil Rights Movement and preceded the backlash and the "War on Crime".

Welfare Mothers

• Appears in the context of the 1980s debate about neoliberal policies, race, crime, and welfare.
• One side of the debate argued that welfare eroded personal responsibility and the work ethic, leading to criminal youth, specifically referencing "welfare mothers".

Crack Cocaine

• Mentioned as the subject of a "Moral Panic" that influenced federal policy during the "War on Drugs".

War on Crime

• Identified as an institutional change that caused mass incarceration.
• Associated with the Arc of Expulsion and used the "old myths" of repayment, reform, removal, and racial threat.
• Emerged as a backlash following the Civil Rights Movement and the "War on Poverty".

Arc of Expulsion

• The latest arc in the archeology of the carceral state, starting in the late 20th century.
• Its associated crisis is urban decline and deindustrialization, leading to the remaking of the neoliberal city.
• The key institutions are the "criminal justice system" and mass incarceration.
• The technology of power is Expulsion, linked to the "Broken windows" theory.
• The punitive myth is Reinforcement, suggesting that punishment reinforces social norms to keep neighborhoods safe.
• Crime management through expulsion at a group scale became a purpose of punishment in the "new penology".
• Capital punishment represents the ultimate form of expulsion.
• The period after 1980 saw a shift towards punishment and incapacitation, fitting this arc.

Arc of Eugenics

• This arc of the carceral state is placed in the early 20th century.
• The crisis associated with this era was urban growth and industrialization.
• The key technology of power was Eugenics.
• Institutions associated with this arc include probation, parole, juvenile courts, and sterilization.
• The punitive myth is Removal, focused on identifying and removing a dangerous minority.
• Eugenics was a theory of inherited traits, racial hierarchies, and degenerate persons/families.
• It employed methods like urban surveillance and social case work, and promoted segregation and sterilization of the "unfit".
• It was promoted by various sectors including government, universities, medicine (like Dr. Leo Stanley at San Quentin), and law.
• Coupled with anti-Black racism in the context of juvenile justice.
• Progressive states adopted eugenic sterilization in prisons.

Probation

• Identified as an institution associated with the Arc of Eugenics in the early 20th century, representing a new power gained by the courts.
• In the present day, probation is primarily a county-level institution in California.
• Described as a criminal justice sanction used for accountability and rehabilitation, employing evidence-based strategies to reduce recidivism.
• Its goals include crime prevention, recidivism reduction, victim restoration, and promoting healthy communities.
• Modern probation emphasizes rehabilitation.
• Juvenile probation aims to keep youth out of the adult system and offers various rehabilitation methods.
• Following Realignment and Proposition 47 in California, fewer people may be sent to felony probation, but post-release supervision shifts the caseload profile to older individuals with more serious records. This shift could potentially move probation's ideology towards security and punishment.

Arc of Racial Profiling

• Presented as a distinct arc.
• The associated crisis is linked to slavery, Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights Era.
• The key institutions are the Plantation, Convict Lease, and Mass Incarceration.
• The technology of power is Racial profiling.
• The punitive myth is Racial threat, positing that Black power (demographic, economic, political) is a threat to public safety and can be contained by aggressive law enforcement and harsh punishment.
• This myth has been revitalized in the post-pandemic period, linked to racial threat and homeless encampments.

Criminal Justice System

• This term is used to describe the institutions of the Arc of Expulsion, specifically encompassing mass incarceration.
• Probation is also referred to as a "criminal justice sanction".

Broken Windows

• Associated with the technology of power (Expulsion) and the punitive myth (Reinforcement) in the Arc of Expulsion.
• The myth suggests that even minor crime can degrade a neighborhood by shifting social norms towards crime tolerance, and that punishment reinforces prosocial norms.

Warehouse Prisons

• This term describes the transformation of prisons in the mass incarceration era.
• These prisons are designed to maximize capacity and security, contrasting with earlier models.

Total Incapacitation

• A feature of prisons in the mass incarceration era.
• It involves treating all prisoners as potentially dangerous ("super predators, serial killers/prisoner revolutionaries") and extending the range of control over them to 100% (24/7) for as long as possible, ideally for life, and applied to as many prisoners as possible.
• Solitary confinement serves this purpose.

Juvenile Court

• An institution of the Arc of Eugenics, emerging in the Progressive Era (1890s-1920s).
• The first one was established in Chicago in 1899.
• By 1917, almost all states had one.
• It was considered a "cultural and institutional crown jewel" of the reform movement, separating judges from strict legal adherence and rejecting punitive aims for the "social interest in the individual".
• However, juvenile court communities embraced a racial project, prioritizing white youth and community interests.
• The Black caseload in Chicago's juvenile court significantly increased by 1917.
• The era of mass incarceration led to the rolling back of juvenile reform efforts, focusing on punishment, eliminating status offenses, and transferring youth to the adult system.
• Juvenile probation aims to prevent entry into the adult system.
• Keeping and extending the legal protections of juvenile jurisdiction is an element of abolitionist reform.

Neoliberalism

• Identified as a social change contributing to mass incarceration.
• The urban crisis and remaking of the "neoliberal city" serve as the crisis for the Arc of Expulsion.
• In the 1980s, debates about neoliberal policies intersected with discussions about race, crime, and welfare.
• California's "toxic surpluses" accumulated in the context of neoliberalism.
• Neoliberalism is contrasted with welfare liberalism, which existed from the Great Depression through the 1970s and involved strong unions, regulated industries, and generous social benefits.
• The concept of "penal devolution" and disinvesting in populations are associated with neoliberalism.
• Reforms aimed at encouraging an idealized neoliberal subject (like taking any job) are criticized as subsidizing "predatory capitalism of the streets".
• Chronic poverty, disenfranchisement, and marginality for those at the bottom of the US structure of racial and class inequality are conditions of life under neoliberalism.

Reentry

• Described as a contemporary term for post-confinement supervision and assistance, aimed at reducing recidivism.
• In California, this is currently merged with county-level probation for certain individuals.
  • Prisoner reentry industry: This is described as an emergent "shadow state" or semi-private sector involved in the low-cost management of disenfranchised populations. It includes various services like shelters, clinics, intensive and treatment services, often geographically concentrated in certain neighborhoods with extreme concentrations of criminalized populations. According to a historical materialist approach, this industry, as an extension of the carceral state, transforms the poor into criminals, criminals into prisoners, and prisoners into a disposable labor force for the working poor.
• Success for reentry is often low-balled to merely avoiding serious crime.
• Services available through county probation after realignment were drastically reduced compared to state parole.

Urbanization

• Urban growth is the crisis associated with the early 20th century Arc of Eugenics.
• Urban decline and the urban crisis, driven by deindustrialization, are the crisis for the late 20th century Arc of Expulsion.
• High homicide rates contributed to the "urban crisis" of the 1960s and 1970s, fueling the punitive turn.
• Urban surveillance was a method used under Eugenics.
• The creation of segregated "ghettos" is mentioned in the context of juvenile justice.
• Geographic concentration of criminalized populations and the reentry industry occurs in certain neighborhoods.
• Urban and rural Anglos of modest means experienced criminalization, though less so than African Americans and Latinos/Chicanos.

Second Great Migration

• The "second great migration" is mentioned in the context of the populations involved in reentry, noting that the sons and daughters of this migration are among those in reentry and some of those seeking to help them.

Globalization

• Globalization is mentioned as a factor in shifts in penal trends.
• Specifically, "Industrialization Globalization I" is linked to the early 20th century and "Urban Globalization II" to the late 20th century.

Industrialization

• Identified as a crisis associated with urban growth in the early 20th century Arc of Eugenics.
• The Industrial Revolution era (18th-19th centuries) in Europe saw concentration of wealth, oversupply of workers, and starvation. This period influenced the role of labor in prison, where it ceased to be productive, and led to enhanced deterrence methods.
• California's political economy changed significantly in the 1970s due in part to changes in the location of industrial investment.
• The loss of California's high-paying industrial jobs in Los Angeles created labor surpluses.

Positive Eugenics

• Identified as a type of eugenics.
• Promoting health and fitness is listed as a method associated with the technology of Eugenics.

Negative Eugenics

• Identified as a type of eugenics.
• Segregation and sterilization of the "unfit" are listed as methods associated with the technology of Eugenics.
• Euthanasia is also mentioned as a solution in the context of Eugenics and hereditary theories of crime.