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The State of Human Caging – Detailed Study Notes

Learning Objectives

  • Analyze how media representations of race & criminality shape police discretion and public opinion.
  • Trace historical roots and modern consequences of mass incarceration & hyper-policing in communities of color.
  • Examine intersections of race, class, gender, ability & sexuality inside the U.S. carceral state.
  • Evaluate policing & imprisonment as outgrowths of settler-colonialism, slavery, white supremacy and racial capitalism.
  • Identify and engage with anti-racist, abolitionist and anti-carceral movements across Native, Black, Asian-American & Latinx communities.

10.1 Introduction – Understanding the Carceral System through Ethnic Studies

  • Quote (Mumia Abu-Jamal, 1996): prisons transform humans into “non-persons… cribbed into boxes of un-life.”
  • Angela Y. Davis (Are Prisons Obsolete?) reminds us that slavery’s abolition required a century & a civil war – likewise, imagining a society without cages demands long-term struggle.
  • Davis situates the punishment system inside antiblack racism AND other racialized histories: Native genocide, Latinx border enforcement, post-9/11 Muslim/Arab detention.
  • Chapter roadmap:
    • 10.2 – define Prison Industrial Complex (PIC), private prisons, modern prison labor.
    • 10.3 – origins of policing in colonialism & slavery.
    • 10.4 – asks “Is policing inherently racist?”
    • 10.5 – School-to-Prison pipeline.
    • 10.6 – alternative solutions & abolition.

10.2 The Prison Industrial Complex (PIC)

Definition & Core Logic

  • Critical Resistance: PIC = “overlapping interests of government & industry that use surveillance, policing & imprisonment as solutions to economic, social & political problems.”
  • Davis (2003) counters myth that crime levels caused overcrowding; instead, prison construction + profit motive drove demand for bodies.

Private Prisons

  • Business model ≈ hotel occupancy: more filled beds → higher revenue.
  • Governments pay per-diem per prisoner; incentives to keep people longer & keep cells full.
  • Stats (2001): 2{,}100{,}146 incarcerated; 803{,}400 Black, 283{,}000 Latinx – people of color outnumber whites.
  • AB-32 (California 2019) bans new private-prison contracts (incl. ICE detention) – signals moral shift, but damage persists.

Prison Labor – From Slavery to Convict Leasing

  • 13th Amendment abolished slavery “except as punishment for crime” – foundation for forced labor behind bars.
  • Post-Civil-War South: convict lease, chain gangs, debt peonage supplied “free” Black labor; Alabama prison pop flipped from 99\% white (pre-1865) to overwhelmingly Black.
  • Lethal work: Yazoo Delta, MS – lashes for “slow hoeing”; deaths from “shackle poisoning,” malaria, sunstroke.
  • Modern echoes:
    • California’s fire camps: <!\$6 per day to battle wildfires; hard to become firefighters post-release.
    • COVID-19: incarcerated workers made PPE they couldn’t use; nationwide prison-industry revenue >!\$2\,000\,000\,000.

Criminalizing Immigrants & Crimmigration

  • Kelly Lytle Hernández: LA’s immigrant detention surged 1920s–30s; sought Mexican labor yet labeled them “convicts.”
  • 1965 INA ends quotas → nativist backlash: Prop 187 (CA 1994), HR 4437 (2005), SB 1070 (AZ 2010) (“show-me-your-papers”).
  • Crimmigration = fusion of immigration & criminal law to racialize migrants; denies due-process rights.

10.3 War on Drugs & Age of Mass Incarceration

Political Origins & Human Stories

  • Nixon 1971 declares “public enemy #1.”
  • Alice Marie Johnson: life sentence for 1st-time, non-violent drug role; freed after 21 yrs via celebrity lobbying – illustrates mandatory-minimum cruelty.

The New Jim Crow (Michelle Alexander)

  • Claim: More Black adults under correctional control today than enslaved in 1850.
  • Three-stage caste system:
    1. Round-up – targeted sweeps in poor Black/Brown areas; race used in stop-and-search.
    2. Conviction – plea bargains under threat of harsh sentencing; mandatory minimums/three-strikes.
    3. Invisible Punishment – post-release civil death: housing, jobs, voting blocked.
  • Prosecutorial “overcharging” + lack of counsel = defendants plead even if innocent.

Racial Disparities

  • 80\text{–}90\% of those sent to prison on drug charges in 7 states are Black.
  • Black men incarcerated for drugs at 20\text{–}57 × white rate, despite similar or lower usage rates.
  • Violent crime ≈ 0.4\% of prison growth; drug convictions ≈ 61\%.
  • Supreme Court barriers: Whren v. US (traffic stop pretext), McCleskey v. Kemp (must prove explicit intent).

10.4 Policing, Colonialism & Slavery

Origins of Policing

  • Alex S. Vitale: policing’s core function = manage the poor, colonized & working class on behalf of inequality.
  • Roots in three projects:
    • Slavery (slave patrols).
    • Settler-colonial conquest of Indigenous people.
    • Suppression of labor & immigrant unrest.

Worker & Immigrant Suppression

  • Sir Robert Peel formulates London Met (1829) after Irish colonial policing; model spreads to U.S.
  • U.S. coal & iron police, Pinkertons, etc. break strikes (e.g., Lattimer Massacre 1897 – 19 miners killed).

Colonial Police Forces Abroad & at Home

  • U.S. Philippine Constabulary (1900s) → template for PA State Police.
  • School of the Americas trains Latin American forces engaged in torture & death squads (El Salvador, Nicaragua).

Violence Against Indigenous Women

  • Genocidal massacres (Pequot 1630s, CA Gold Rush 1849) targeted women & children; policing justified by “savage” narratives.

Texas Rangers & Western Expansion

  • Created to protect white settlers, hunt Native & Mexican resistance; Porvenir massacre 1918 (15 unarmed killed).

Slave Patrols ➜ Early Southern Police

  • Patrolled plantations, enforced slave codes, prevented literacy & escape.
  • Post-Emancipation: Black Codes, vagrancy arrests feed convict leasing; sheriffs received kickbacks.
  • Gendered racial terror: rape of Black women by patrols & later police normalized.

Immigration Enforcement & Gender/Race

  • Page Act 1875 barred Asian women (assumed prostitutes).
  • Exclusions for “homosexuals,” gender-nonconforming dress (Sarah Harb Quiroz 1960), high fertility (Japanese wives 1920).

10.5 Is Policing Inherently Racist?

Racial Profiling & Police Discretion

  • SCOTUS 1975 Brignoni-Ponce: “Mexican appearance” acceptable factor for stops.
  • Departments claim “race isn’t sole factor,” yet similarly situated whites not stopped.

Driving While Black/Brown

  • NJ Turnpike study: POC = 15\% of drivers, 42\% of stops, 73\% of arrests; whites twice as likely to carry contraband.
  • CA RIPA data 2019\text{–}2020: Black drivers 5 × more likely stopped in SF; nighttime data show drop, indicating visual race cue.

Stop-and-Frisk (NYPD)

  • >500{,}000 pedestrian stops 2007; Black people stopped 6 × whites; guns found <1\% of stops.
  • Ruled unconstitutional 2013.

Post-9/11 Surveillance & Detention

  • PATRIOT Act expands wiretaps & sweeping detentions (≈1{,}182 in first 2 months).
  • NYPD Demographics Unit mapped ~250 mosques; admitted zero leads.
  • Settlement 2018: unit disbanded, \$72{,}500 damages.

10.6 School-to-Prison Pipeline (STPP)

Punishing Children

  • Angela Davis: schools prioritizing discipline become “prep schools for prison.”
  • DOJ “Cops in Schools” grants (\$750\text{ million}) → 6{,}500 School Resource Officers (SROs).
  • Super-predator myth (DiLulio 1995) + Columbine 1999 fuel police expansion.

Testing, Suspensions & Zero Tolerance

  • NC: long-term suspensions ↑ 135\% post-high-stakes testing; Black students 3.5 × more likely suspended.
  • TX 2010: 2\text{ million} suspensions; 95\% for minor code infractions.

Schools as Prisons & Militarization

  • SROs wield AR-15s, MRAPs; Goose Creek HS SWAT raid 2003 – no drugs found.
  • ACLU lawsuit (Birmingham) ends pepper-spray use on students.
  • Presence of SROs → arrest rate 5 × higher; no evidence of crime reduction.

Disproportionate Impact

  • DOE 2011\text{–}12: Black students = 16\% enrollment but 31\% of arrests; Chicago: Black arrests 27 × white; Native expulsions in NM 13 × white.
  • Girls of color: Black girls = 16\% female pop, 33\% referrals; viral assault of Shakara (SC 2015).
  • Special-needs: make up 14\% pop, 26\% of referrals; Kayleb Moon-Robinson (autistic) hit w/ felony for kicking trash can.

10.7 Alternative Solutions & Abolitionist Visions

Youth Support Complex (Victor Rios)

  • Replace “Youth Control Complex” with mentors, cultural programs, dignity-centered discipline.
  • Redirect funding from punishment to “nurturing institutions.”

Abolition for the People

  • Kaepernick Publishing anthology answers: What is abolition? Is it practical? How look in real life?
  • Dylan Rodriguez: abolition = constant remaking of society against colonialism, slavery & incarceration.
  • Historical precedent: Black Panther Party – free breakfast, copwatch, liberation schools.

Defund the Police (Mariame Kaba)

  • Immediate step toward abolition: cut police numbers & budgets by 50\%; invest in housing, health, jobs.
  • Reform – body cameras, training – merely expand legitimacy.

Eliminating School Police

  • Oakland USD “George Floyd Resolution” 2020 disbands district police; reallocates \$6\text{ million} to student supports.
  • LAUSD, Seattle, Denver follow suit.

Restorative Justice (RJ)

  • Indigenous-inspired circles, peer juries; focuses on repairing harm & reintegration.
  • Fremont HS (Oakland): \$2.5\text{ million} RJ investment → suspensions plummet, college eligibility triples.
  • Key: training, time, trust; cannot coexist with zero-tolerance high-stakes test regimes.

Key Terms (selected)

  • Prison Industrial Complex (PIC)
  • Criminalization
  • Convict Leasing
  • Crimmigration
  • War on Drugs
  • Slave Patrols
  • Racial Profiling
  • Stop-and-Frisk
  • School-to-Prison Pipeline
  • Youth Control / Youth Support Complex
  • Abolition
  • Restorative Justice

Summary / Big-Picture Insights

  • U.S. punishment systems are historically rooted in slavery & colonial conquest; profit motives (PIC) perpetuate caging.
  • Legal doctrines & media narratives render racist outcomes “colorblind.”
  • Policing & prisons fail at fostering safety; instead manage & marginalize dispossessed populations.
  • Disproportionate harms experienced along lines of race, class, gender, disability & immigration status.
  • Grass-roots movements—abolition, defund, RJ, community schools—demonstrate practical pathways toward a just, liberated future without cages or state violence.