Final Paper

The United States prison system tends to be overpopulated compared to other countries,

further disadvantaging already destitute criminal offenders. The United States has historically

had a very imperialist, masculine, no-tolerance culture, and its prison system is no different.

Beginning around the 1970s, we started to see sentencing statistics and prison populations far

outpace those of other developed countries. For example, in 2015, England had .16% of its

population imprisoned, compared to the United States at .48% (Ministry of Justice, 2016)(Carson

& Anderson, 2016). One of the biggest reasons for this is because minimum sentencing laws.

Our sentencing for most high-profile crimes outpaces that of all developed nations (Jaeger,

2017). Beyond prison populations and sentencing, our culture has a very abrasive outlook on

ex-felons and previous offenders. About two-thirds of formerly incarcerated people are

unemployed for some time after release (Wang & Bertram, 2022). Almost every job does a

background check on their new hires, and many discriminate based on past offenses. In many

states, previously convicted felons lose many rights granted with typical citizenship. In

Nebraska, a previously convicted felon cannot vote, hold public office, or own a firearm

(Seacrest, 2014).

“Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2022” is a report from the Prison Policy Initiative,

which argues that the prison systems in the United States need reformation. The Prison Policy

Initiative uses advocacy and research about the United States prison systems to educate the

masses about incarceration and the detriment it causes to society in many ways. Founded in

2001, Peter Wagner began the initiative to shed light on the cycle of imprisonment experienced

by those who may be impoverished or have mental health issues. The Initiative makes data about

incarceration across the country more accessible. This inaccessibility is partly caused by the vast
number of prison systems in the United States. As it is discussed in the “Mass Incarceration: The

Whole Pie 2022” report, “the U.S. doesn’t have one “criminal justice system;” instead, we have

thousands of federal, state, local, and tribal systems (Wagner & Sawyer, 2022). He hopes to

change the current systems as much as possible with the advocacy he can do. Within this article,

Wagner and Sawyer discuss how far too many people are incarcerated in the United States. They

introduce this discussion with the term “enormous churn,” which describes the number of people

going in and out of prison facilities yearly (Wagner & Sawyer, 2022). This churn begins with

those who are not even convicted. There are about 722,000 people in local jails across the

country on any given day, but only about 300,000 have been convicted. This brings up one of the

biggest issues people have with the United States prison system. Many argue that because, in

many cases, the only thing stopping people from incarceration is money, our prison system is

greatly biased toward the incarceration of the lower class. The article later discussed this:

“People in prison and jail are disproportionately poor compared to the overall U.S. population”

(Wagner & Sawyer, 2022).

Most of the causes of mass incarceration, as well as causes of further economic grief, are

found at the level of local jails. The Prison Policy Initiative uses several different rhetorical

figures in forwarding their views throughout their “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2022”

report. The first of these appears within one of the first few paragraphs of the report. In

discussing drivers of mass incarceration and what brings people into larger prisons throughout

the country, Wagner & Sawyer bring up local jails and their role in mass incarceration. They

further this discussion with a metaphor: “local jails often receive short shrift in larger discussions

about criminal justice, but they play a critical role as ‘incarceration’s front door,’ and have a far

greater impact than the daily (population of prisons across the country) suggests” (Wagner &
Sawyer, 2022). Within this metaphor local jails are the tenor of this analogy. “Incarceration’s

front door” is being used as the vehicle. Wagner and Sawyer describe local jails as the entry

point or the “front door” within our system of imprisonment in the United States. Beyond just the

fact that felons are typically held in local jails before sentencing, there are many reasons that

local jails are a pipeline or “front door” to larger state or federal prisons. Defendants are biased

against the bail system as a whole. Most defendants are within the lowest income group in the

United States, with the average defendant only making $7,000 in the year prior to arrest. This,

combined with the average bail being set at more than $55,000, means that most defendants

cannot make bail (Dobbie et al., 2018). This also sets up the defendant for more failure in the

future. Because already poor defendants cannot work while waiting for sentencing, families who

might look to the defendant to provide are put in a dire situation. This holding makes defendants

more likely to be imprisoned in some cases because of the costs of private legal counsel. Going

to trial costs a defendant far more in legal fees than taking a plea deal, so because they cannot

make money to pay for these fees while awaiting sentencing, these defendants are more likely to

take a plea deal. Because of trial costs, defendants are likelier to take guilty plea deals even if

innocent. These plea deals typically end in a much quicker resolution, so defendants are more

inclined to take them to get it over with (Nolo, 2014).

Privately-owned prisons are a phenomenon in the United States which uses the economic

disparities of convicted offenders in the prison system to their advantage. The private prison

system also impacts the public prison system to worsen conditions for prisoners across the

country. The second rhetorical figure used in “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2022” is a

metaphor found at the start of the Prison Policy Initiative’s discussion about the myths of mass

incarceration. The discussion begins with private prisons and how they are not one of the root
problems of mass incarceration in the United States. Wagner and Sawyer say that “private

prisons are essentially a parasite on the massive publicly-owned system–not the root of it”

(Wagner & Sawyer, 2022). Within this metaphor, “private prisons” are the tenor and are

described as a “parasite.” Throughout this report, Wagner and Sawyer point out how our legal

system is at fault for mass incarceration, and prisons do not aggregate it much. Private prisons

make up only eight percent of prisons in the United States (Buday & Nellis, 2022). These prisons

are “parasites” in that they push to keep the current system of mass incarceration in government

policy. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), comprised of some who are

beneficiaries of privately-owned prisons, lobbies for things like increased mandatory minimum

sentencing (Perry, 2017), the elimination of pre-trial release agencies (Oaks, 2019), and more

significant sentencing for juvenile repeat offenders (Males, 2011). Beyond this, private prisons

impact how the rest of the prisons in the United States are run. Another caveat of private prisons

is that they have lower levels of staffing. These prisons cut corners in many aspects to make a

more significant profit, and public prisons have followed suit. Private prisons experience more

significant numbers of critical incidents because of staffing issues, and public prisons are likely

to experience this (Austin & Coventry, 2001). Beyond the privatization of prisons as a whole,

private investors also have an impact on prisons across the country. For example, many try to

enact policies regarding living expenses in prison. For example, one cause that has garnered the

support of investors over the past few years is raising the costs of phone calls in prison, with

some trying to get these calls to cost up to a dollar per minute (Prison Policy Initiative, n.d.).

The standpoints I have made on the current prison system are persuasive. Many of the

points I have made corroborate with the Prison Policy Initiative and other similar sources. These

sources take a stand supporting the general population and those that do not have much power to
oppose the oppression they experience, showing a need for advocacy and acknowledgment.

Many of these sources make great points toward the conviction of the prison system in the

United States. First, the Initiative does a great job of backing up its points with facts. Littered

throughout all of their reports are hyperlinks guiding one to other reports which discuss more

in-depth specific terms or claims. The Prison Policy Initiative has a narrative cleanly backed with

facts, through which they find testimonials and other corroborating sources. Then with these,

they find specific bills or policies to support or oppose. They make it easy for anyone to become

knowledgeable and activist. I have refrained from historical approaches at the forefront of

arguments of similar contemporary social justice issues and focused on current policies. Crime is

an aspect of society that we all experience in one way or another; therefore, awareness of these

issues is both of high importance and easy to follow.

References

Austin, J., & Coventry, G. (2001). Bureau of Justice Assistance. Emerging Issues on Privatized

Prisons, ix-xi. https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/bja/181249.pdf

Buday, M., & Nellis, A. (2022, August 23). Private prisons in the United States. The Sentencing

Project. Retrieved November 18, 2022, from

https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/private-prisons-in-the-united-states/

Carson, E., & Anderson, E. (2016, December). Prisoners in 2015. Washington, D.C. Retrieved

November 17, 2022, from https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/p15.pdf.

Dobbie, W., Goldin, J., & Yang, C. S. (2018). The effects of pre-trial detention on conviction,

future crime, and employment: Evidence from randomly assigned judges. American

Economic Review, 108(2), 201–240. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20161503

Jaeger, K. (2017, January 20). How long people go to prison around the world. ATTN. Retrieved

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Regulating the prison phone industry. Prison Policy Initiative. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18,

2022, from https://www.prisonpolicy.org/phones/

Seacrest, L. (2014). Voting rights of former felons - ACLU of Nebraska. Retrieved November 19,

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employment reveal labor market injustices. Prison Policy Initiative. Retrieved November

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C%20months%20of%20searching,jobless%20at%20any%20given%20time.