Mass Incarceration

Short Definition:

Mass incarceration is when there is a dramatic expansion of the U.S prison population due to policies that criminalize race and poverty.
Mass incarceration is a major system reinforcing poverty and racial inequality. It connects directly to neoliberalism, racialized policing, and political disenfranchisement.

Race being Criminalized:

Walter McMillian 1986
- Walter McMillian, a Black man from Alabama, was wrongly convicted of murdering a white woman, Ronda Morrison, in 1986.
- He had a strong alibi and many witnesses placing him at a church event at the time of the murder. His real “crime” was having an affair with a white woman, Karen Kelly, which made him a target of racist suspicion.
- Police used false witness statements (mainly from Ralph Myers) and suppressed evidence.His trial was moved to a mostly white county, and the judge overrode a jury recommendation for life to give him the death penalty.
- Bryan Stevenson
  - Bryan Stevenson proved Walter McMillian's innocence by uncovering and presenting new evidence that the state's witnesses had lied, primarily by having Ralph Myers, the key eyewitness, recant his testimony after being coerced by police

Anti-Black and Anti-Immigration police practices:
- 2020: KILLING OF GEORGE FLOYD
  - George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed by a Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for over nine minutes. His death sparked nationwide and global protests against police brutality and systemic racism.
- ICE RAIDS
  - Oxnard October 2025
    - In October 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted targeted raids in Oxnard, California, focusing on individuals suspected of immigration violations, raising community concerns about safety and family separation.
  - Glass House Farms, Camarillo, July 2025
    - ICE carried out workplace raids at Glass House Farms in Camarillo in July 2025, detaining several agricultural workers and prompting debates over labor rights, immigration enforcement, and the impact on local farming communities.
- Ferguson 2015 Case
  - Following the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the U.S. Department of Justice released reports in 2015 finding systemic racial bias in the city’s policing and municipal court practices, fueling national conversations about policing and civil rights.
- Children’s Crusades 1963
  - Part of the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama, the 1963 Children’s Crusade involved thousands of young students peacefully marching to protest segregation. Their arrests and the violent response by authorities attracted national attention and helped build momentum for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Trial by Jury of Peers 7th Amendment:
- This amendment protects the right to have a fair trial decided by a jury, not just a judge.
- In practice, communities of color often face:
  - Biased juries
  - Underrepresentation of their peers
  - Unfair trial outcomes.
Fifth Amendment:
- This amendment says the government can’t charge someone with a serious crime unless a grand jury decides there’s enough evidence.
- But historically:
  - Black defendants often didn’t get fair grand juries
  - Prosecutors pushed for harsher charges in Black neighborhoods
Freedom From Fear (from FDR’s Four Freedoms)
- This is a moral, not constitutional, freedom.
- It means people should live without:
  - Police violence
  - Hate crimes
  - State harassment
  - Environmental harm
- Black, Indigenous, immigrant, and poor communities have historically been denied this freedom.
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Furman v. Georgia 1972
- Furman v. Georgia (1972) was a Supreme Court ruling that struck down the death penalty as it was being used at the time. The Court said it violated the 8th Amendment (ban on cruel and unusual punishment) and the 14th Amendment (equal protection), because the death penalty was applied in an inconsistent, unfair, and discriminatory way.
  - The case shows that racism influences who gets the most extreme punishment, turning racial inequality into a criminal outcome.
Gov. George Wallace: Massive Resistance 1963
- Who/When/Where: George Wallace, Governor of Alabama, 1963.
- What/Why: Opposed federal desegregation, physically blocked Black students at the University of Alabama (Stand in the Schoolhouse Door).
- Criminalization: Made Black education and political participation seem illegal; enforced racial hierarchy through state power.
Freedom Riders (Interstate South, 1961)
- Who/When/Where: Interracial civil rights activists riding buses through the South.
- What/Why: Challenged segregated bus terminals; faced beatings and a bus bombing.
- Criminalization: Black activists were treated as criminals for asserting legal rights; violence went largely unpunished.
16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (Birmingham, AL, 1963)
- Who/When/Where: KKK bombed church on Sept 15, 1963; four Black girls killed (Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, Denise McNair).
- What/Why: Targeted the Black community to intimidate civil rights activism.
- Criminalization: Black lives devalued; perpetrators not immediately held accountable, showing systemic racial bias in justice.
Bloody Sunday, Selma (Selma, AL, March 7, 1965)
- Who/When/Where: John Lewis and SNCC marchers, Alabama.
- What/Why: Peaceful march for voting rights met with violent attacks by state troopers on Edmund Pettus Bridge.
- Criminalization: Black protestors treated as criminals for demanding basic rights; exemplifies racialized state violence.
Selma to Montgomery March (Alabama, March 1965)
- Who/When/Where: Civil rights marchers, Selma → Montgomery.
- What/Why: Continued voter rights protest after Bloody Sunday.
- Criminalization: Black voters faced intimidation, arrests, and legal barriers to political participation; poverty and race amplified risks.
Racialized Patterns of Police Violence (Urban U.S., 1960s–present)
- Police targeted Black neighborhoods; 1964–68 “long hot summers” saw uprisings in Harlem, Watts, Newark, Detroit, Washington D.C.
Politics of Law and Order (Nixon, Wallace, 1968)
- Who/When/Where:
  - George Wallace, Governor of Alabama, ran for president (Democrat/Independent) in 1968.
  - Richard Nixon, Republican candidate, won the presidency in 1968.
  - U.S., during a period of civil rights activism, urban unrest, and Vietnam War protests.
- What/Why:
  - Both used “law and order” as a political strategy to appeal to white voters fearful of social change, civil rights movements, and urban unrest.
  - Wallace ran openly on segregationist policies, promising to resist federal civil rights enforcement and maintain racial hierarchy.
  - Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” subtly targeted white southern voters by emphasizing crime, urban disorder, and opposition to protests, without overtly mentioning race.
  - Both framed Black activism, anti-war protests, and urban uprisings as threats to public safety, portraying them as criminal or dangerous.
  - This approach was part of a broader shift toward punitive policies and helped gain support among white working- and middle-class voters who felt threatened by desegregation and social change.
Shelby County v. Holder (Supreme Court, 2013)
- Who/When/Where: U.S. Supreme Court, June 2013.
- What/Why: Struck down Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act, invalidating the formula that determined which jurisdictions required federal preclearance for new voting laws.
- Impact: Allowed states with histories of racial discrimination to change voting laws without oversight, paving the way for stricter voter ID laws, early voting cuts, and polling place closures.
- Connection: Race criminalization—enabled systemic voter suppression targeting Black and minority communities.
  - Crystal Mason Case (Texas 2016)
    - She was sentenced to five years for voting in Texas in 2016 while on supervised release from prison. The conviction was ultimately overturned.. In 2024
    - She was not registered to vote and the police went after her and heavily fined her and was in the threat of going back to jail for years and years and in 2024 the case was finally overturned.
Trayvon Martin / Zimmerman Case (Sanford, FL, 2012)
- Who/When/Where:
  - Trayvon Martin, 17-year-old Black teen from Miami, Florida.
  - George Zimmerman, a mixed-race neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Florida.
  - The incident occurred on February 26, 2012.
- What Happened / Why:
  - Trayvon Martin was walking back to his father’s fiancée’s house in a gated community.
  - Zimmerman reported Martin as “suspicious” and followed him despite police instructions not to.
  - A confrontation occurred, and Zimmerman fatally shot Martin.
  - Zimmerman claimed self-defense under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, which allows the use of deadly force if a person believes they are in imminent danger without requiring a duty to retreat.
- Legal Outcome:
  - Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter.
  - He was acquitted on July 13, 2013 by a jury that accepted his self-defense claim.
  - The case drew national and international attention and sparked widespread outrage.

Poverty being Criminalized:

Workhouses / Poor Law Amendment Act 1834:
- This law in England said that poor people would only get help if they went to workhouses, which were harsh, prison-like institutions with strict rules, hard labor, and terrible living conditions. The idea was to “punish” poverty so fewer people would ask for help.
- The act treated poverty as something to punish instead of help, and we still see that today. Modern policies like loitering laws, fines, homelessness criminalization, and heavy policing of poor communities continue this “punish the poor” mindset and help fuel mass incarceration.
Elizabethan Poor Law 1601:
- Created a national system for poor relief. Elizabethan government criminalized vagrancy meaning if a person doesn’t have a place to live or a regular job they are seen as a criminal. This law aimed to control poverty by forcing people into work or confinement rather than helping them. Punishment included fines, whipping, imprisonment, or forced labor.
Loitering Laws:
- These laws target people who are homeless.
- These laws make it illegal to stand, sit, or hang around in a public place without a clear purpose. They’re super vague, which means police can decide who “looks suspicious.” Because of that, these laws have historically been used more against marginalized groups especially Black and brown communities, unhoused people, and low-income youth.
- How this connects to mass incarceration:
  - Create more opportunities for police to stop, search, and arrest people for very minor behavior.
  - Target communities that are already over-policed.
  - Lead to arrests that stack up into fines, probation, jail time, and criminal records which can pull people deeper into the system.

Key Events:

Rise of Mass Incarceration (U.S., 1970s–present)
- Huge expansion of prisons, longer sentences, and more punitive policies.
- Disproportionately affects Black and poor communities.
50th March on Washington (Washington D.C., Aug 2013)
- Who/When/Where: Civil rights activists, political leaders, and public figures in Washington D.C., August 24, 2013.
- What/Why: Commemorated the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech. Advocated for jobs, economic justice, voting rights, and equality.
- Significance: Highlighted ongoing struggles for racial and economic justice in the U.S.; brought attention to income inequality, voter suppression, and police violence.
#SayTheirName Movement (U.S., ongoing)
- Who/When/Where: Activists, organizations, and communities across the U.S., ongoing.
- What/Why: Campaign to raise awareness of Black victims of police violence and racialized killings.
- Connection: Race criminalization—calls attention to how Black lives are systematically treated as criminal or expendable.
Mass Incarceration Data (U.S., 2020–21)
- What/Where/When: State prisons (1.1M), local jails (562k), federal prisons (203k); life sentences increasing.
- Why: Policies from the War on Crime era, “law and order” politics, and ideological shifts in punishment.
- Connection: Race and poverty criminalization—most incarcerated are Black and poor; jails often violate the 6th Amendment right to a speedy trial.
Prison Labor & Costs (U.S., ongoing)
- What/Where/When: Mandatory or low-paid labor in prisons, including firefighting and state jobs.
- Impact: Prisoners earn little or nothing; work can prevent post-release employment in public safety.
- Connection: Race and poverty criminalization—exploitation of poor and Black incarcerated populations; perpetuates economic inequality.
Ideological Shifts in Criminal Justice (1960s–present)
- Who / When / Where:
  - Federal and state policymakers across the U.S., supported by both Democrats and Republicans.
  - Began in the 1960s and continues to influence policies today.
  - Influenced by law enforcement, academics, politicians, and media narratives.
- What Happened / Why:
  - Before the 1960s, criminal justice policies often emphasized rehabilitating offenders through education, therapy, or community programs.
  - After the 1960s, policies shifted toward punishment, incarceration, and removing “dangerous” people from society.
White racial backlash 1960s
- As Black people achieved legal rights, access to education, and political power, many white voters and institutions felt threatened. To respond, they framed Black activism and efforts toward equality as “criminal” or dangerous”.
- This fear was used to justify “law and order” policies, which included harsher policing, stricter sentencing, and other punitive measures. In other words, instead of addressing the root causes of inequality, the system treated Black communities and social progress as problems to be controlled.
- The connection to race criminalization is that this backlash used the law and political strategy to maintain white supremacy. By portraying Black people as a threat, policies were created that disproportionately targeted Black communities, reinforcing racial inequality and making activism itself risky.
- In short: White backlash turned civil rights progress into a perceived “crime problem,” leading to laws and policies that punished Black people and maintained racial hierarchy.
Mass Incarceration & Prison System (1960s–present)
- Financial Costs:
  - The U.S. spends around $80 billion annually on prisons, covering:
    - Healthcare for inmates
    - Feeding prisoners
    - Salaries for guards
    - Building and maintaining facilities
  - Rapid Expansion:
    - The prison population grew dramatically from the late 1960s to present.
    - Growth was not driven solely by crime rates but by political and social factors,
      - White racial backlash 1960s
        As Black people achieved legal rights, access to education, and political power, many white voters and institutions felt threatened. To respond, they framed Black activism and efforts toward equality as “criminal” or dangerous”.
        This fear was used to justify “law and order” policies, which included harsher policing, stricter sentencing, and other punitive measures. In other words, instead of addressing the root causes of inequality, the system treated Black communities and social progress as problems to be controlled.
        The connection to race criminalization is that this backlash used the law and political strategy to maintain white supremacy. By portraying Black people as a threat, policies were created that disproportionately targeted Black communities, reinforcing racial inequality and making activism itself risky.
        In short: White backlash turned civil rights progress into a perceived “crime problem,” leading to laws and policies that punished Black people and maintained racial hierarchy.

People Involved:

Bryan Stevenson
- Just Mercy (2014)
- challenges wrongful convictions through the Equal Justice Initiative, a U.S.-based nonprofit legal advocacy organization led by Bryan Stevenson.
George Floyd
- His killing exposed systemic police violence.
Walter McMillian
- wrongful conviction case showing racial bias.
Richard Nixon
George Wallace