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Tyler Mathews

ENG 1201-503

Prof. Dunham

20 January 2019

Research Proposal

When I first started reading the lessons for this week, I initially thought I would

have a very difficult time finding questions I wanted answered because I had no idea

what direction to go. However, I began looking on the opposing viewpoints and quickly

found something that not only has personally effected in my life, but has a lot of

research to support the questions that I want to answer. I would like to do my research

on discovering the links between the war on drugs and how it has effected incarceration

rates and who is most effected.

I was born in December 2004 and by the time my Mom divorced my biological

Father in 2009, my Father had been to jail at least 16 times. My biological Father always

struggled with addiction and mental health issues and it led him down a very bad path

since his early teens. In 2009, only 3 months after my Mom filed for divorce from him,

my biological Father went out and got involved with two armed robberies back to back

seeking money for drugs which ultimately landed him in prison for the first time. During

that prison term of two years, my Father lost all contact with my Mom and I and right

before he was due to be released he stabbed another inmate and got another 4 years.

When he was released in 2015, he remained out for about a year and a half and then

was sentenced to another year for parole violation because he was caught with
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methamphetamine. His latest release from prison came in June 2018 and he has

sentenced been caught with methamphetamine, heroin, and a firearm and has been

back in prison since November 2018 awaiting trial. He is facing about 10-12 years at

this time.

It would be easy to say he has a mental health problem that has been diagnosed

for years and that I could really focus on the treatment of mental health in the prison

systems, but I really think that the war on drugs has a larger effect on how we

incarcerate people in general and has had a significant impact on how we incarcerate

rather than treat addicts. I am thankful that I have not been exposed to my biological

Father and his drug use and I don’t have any desire for a relationship with him, but I am

extremely interested in this topic and his story helped me to see another perspective.

I feel that this topic is important and relatable for many people whether they know

it now or not. I feel that this is a significant problem in our Country and one that

deserves to be better addressed. I think that there are a lot of misconceptions out there

about how prison inmates are seen and especially when they have addiction and/or

mental health issues. I also think that the prison system as a whole needs a complete

redesign in America. I believe that there is enough research and evidence to support

my thoughts and feelings about this and that the War on Drugs has done more damage

than good to the prison system and the lives of inmates. I already know several things

about this topic from my research and things I have read in the past. One of the things

that I know is that there is a direct correlation between the war on drugs or moreover the

way people are charged and incarcerated because of the war on drugs, and rising

incarceration rights and declination of proper addiction and mental health treatment. I
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also know that there is a profound amount of evidence out there to support that

correlation as well as a lot of arguments in support of the way things are being handled.

I know that this topic is controversial and may be tough to cover in the right way.

There are many things that I need to find out to effectively complete this research

and I need to know is the changes in incarceration rates before and after the war on

drugs began as well as the impact on recidivism rates. I also believe that I need to find

out exactly how the war on drugs has impacted the incarceration of specific minorities

and socioeconomic classes of Americans. The first question I have is “How have

incarceration and recidivism rates in America changed as a result of the War on

Drugs?” and the second question is “How has the War on Drugs impacted the

incarceration rates of specific minorities and members of different socioeconomic

classes?”.