Incarceration of African Americans: A Public Health Crisis - Coursework Example

Running head: Incarceration and Public Health Incarceration of African Americans: A Public Health Crisis Jeene D. Bailey of Maryland, School of Nursing Baltimore, Maryland Comprehensive Final Exam Dr. Karen Kauffman Date Submitted Abstract The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. Current statistics report that the U.S. incarcerates 714 people per 100,000. The rate of mass incarceration has a disproportionate impact on urban communities, especially African American. African Americans make up only 12% of the total U.S. population but they represent 45% of the total people who are incarcerated in U.S. prisons. Additionally, one in three African American men will serve time in prison during their lifetime. These statistics have devastating effects on the health of African Americans, their families, and communities. Moreover, with government officials allocating less money to underserved communities for job programs, and prison re-enter programs, the chance of a prisoner successfully reentering back into the community and become a productive citizen once released is slim. As community health professionals, we must recognize the problem of mass incarceration as a health crisis for African American families and communities. Interventions should include lobbying for alternatives to incarceration, and increasing funding for job training and reenter programs. Key Words: African American, incarceration, community, laws, prisons Many embrace the idea of public health as the practice that is concerned only with the prevention and control of disease and disability, and the promotion of physical and mental health of the population. Common issues of concern are those that usually affect the physical body. Health issues such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, low birth weight babies, HIV, mental illness, and the likes are some of primary concerns of public health workers. It is often in the interest of public health workers to organize, plan, and implement programs in order to ensure that populations as small as a handful of people or as large as all the inhabitants of several continents suffer as little as possible from any of these burdens. Regrettably, these conditions are not the only issues that require public health attention. The trend of incarceration is one that has negative impacts on the physical body, the psyche, the population, and public health as well. There is increased incidence of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and depression and infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C and B and tuberculosis in the incarcerated population (Galea & Vlahov, 2002). Unfortunately, mass incarcerations of members of the African American community have been often overlooked as a problem of public health. At present, there are no proper strategies formulated and successfully implemented to address the situation. Recognizing the impact of massive incarceration among African Americans, this paper will strive to go deeper into the problem and provide suggestions as to how we as public health workers should face this problem to help the African American community become more productive. The issue of massive incarceration is not really unique to the United States. However, the fact remains that the United States currently incarcerates more people than any other nation in the world. In fact, the United States incarcerates people at a rate of 714 people per 100,000, the highest in the world per capita (Mauer, 1999) (Figure 1). There are approximately two million people in U.S. prisons and jails today ("Ten Things You Should Know About Prisons In the U.S."). A reason for the increased rates is largely due to changes in sentencing guidelines that have become more of a punitive approach to crime reduction, and the privatization of prison-related industries and services. FIGURE 1— Comparative international rates of incarceration (numbers of people in prison per 100,000 population), 2003. Source. International Centre for Prison Studies.21 African Americans who only represent 12.7% of the U.S. population are vastly overrepresented in U.S. prisons and jail systems. They make up an astonishing 48.2% of American adults who are currently in prisons and jails (McKinnon & Humes, 2000) (Table 1). In fact, it has been estimated that if incarceration rates are unchanged, one in three African American males are expected to go to prison at some point during their lifetime. ("Ten Things You Should Know About Prisons In the U.S."). In terms of probabilities by race, African American males have a 32% chance of serving time in prison at some point in their lives versus 6% for Caucasians and 17% for Latinos (Vaughn et al, 2007). Based on these figures, it is obvious that there is a need for public health workers to address the current situation of mass incarcerations of African American males. As public health professionals we should be on familiar terms with mass incarceration and the impact that it has on the African American communities. With a great number of the African American population languishing in jails, the rest of the African American population become more vulnerable. The lack of strong community support can undermine the status of the African American communities. They will be powerless in the fight against the many social injustices that have determined their current situation in today’s social order as well. Vulnerability comes about when individuals are incarcerated for long periods and become incapable of contributing positively to their own community. An example includes the inability to find employment. If an individual is unable to work, he/she does not pay taxes that generally funds community projects, programs, and initiatives. He/she is also unable to support their family by providing food, shelter, clothing, utilities, childcare, etc. Because of their inability to provide basic needs on their own, African Americans are known for representing the majority of cases dependent on the government’s current welfare system. To compensate for their vulnerabilities, many African Americans especially African American males have a propensity to take part in several illegal activities like becoming involved in gangs, stealing, and selling drugs. Selling drugs is the most widespread explanation for why African Americans find themselves on the wrong side of the justice system and incarcerated in prison and jail. In 2000, 81% of those sentenced to state prisons were convicted of nonviolent crimes, including drug offenses and property offenses (Golembeski, 2005). Ironically, in order to compensate for the increased sale of drugs in America, there have been laws and policies developed, that many believe are targeted to unfairly incarcerate African Americans. A research on literature shows that specific laws which are aimed at protecting the public are actually prejudicial to African Americans. As a result, more African Americans end up landing in jail as compared to other groups of people. Some of the laws that tend to be bias against people of color are the “War on Drugs” and “System Reform” laws. In the late 1980’s, in hopes to curtail the sale and use of crack cocaine, the federal government enacted a series of drug policies, known as the “War on Drugs” (Willmot & Olphen, 2005). Because of the highly addictive nature of crack or “rock” cocaine, law officials viewed it as threatening to individuals and public health. Crack cocaine is used as an alternative to the more expensive “powder” cocaine. Since crack is cheaper, it tends to be used and sold in urban (African-American or Latino communities) or impoverished areas. The War on Drugs has been the single greatest force contributing to racial disparities in incarcerations. African-American communities bear the biggest disproportionate burden of these policies. One would imagine that African Americans might commit more drug crimes than any other race according to the statistics but this is not the case. Drug crimes actually do not differ significantly by race but incongruously, African-Americans are arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned at far higher rates than Caucasians. In fact, nationally, fifty percent of all prison inmates are African Americans (Golembeski, 2005). Not only does the War on Crime policy target African American males, this law does not also spare African American females or their children. African-American females are six times more likely than a Caucasian female to spend time in prisons or jails (Prisoners in 2000, 2001). Along with the War on Drugs policy, The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 also plays an important role in the imprisonments of African Americans. Miller describes the War on Drugs and The Sentencing Reform Acts as disasters-in-waiting for African Americans from the day of their conception (Miller, 1996, p. 80). The social injustice that public health advocates must remember is that all illegal drugs despite their form are dangerous to public health. If you take a look at the equation, the rich upper class can afford the more expensive drug (cocaine) while their lower-class counter parts who can only afford the cheaper drug (crack) but effect of taking or peddling these drugs are all the same. Do you think that it reasonable for African Americans to spend more time in jail compared to their other counterparts? Incarceration has countless obstructive consequences for the African American community. One consequence of high incarceration rates for communities of color is the inability of a prisoner who has been released from prison or jail to find employment. This reality adds to the other disparities that communities of color already must deal with. A recent study concluded that imprisonment reduces an offender’s subsequent chance for employment. Proof of this review was described by a survey conducted in the United States. A survey of employers in five U.S. cities found that 65% of all employers confess that they would not knowingly hire an ex-offender, regardless of the crime committed (Harris & Keller, 2005). Without legitimate employment or income, an ex-offender is forced to live by depending on others or return to illegitimate and illegal means for obtaining income. Without systems of community support for prisoners who have re-entered back into society, the inability of these ex-offenders to support themselves through legal means will ultimately result in future re-incarcerations. An additional consequence of high incarceration rates of African Americans is the negative impact that it has on the African American families and their family structure. Children are the most vulnerable silent victims of incarceration system. The children of one or both incarcerated parents suffer the loss of social support, extreme anxiety, and feelings of abandonment. There are 1.5 million children with a parent who is currently incarcerated, with estimates of up to 10 million children younger than 18 years who have had a parent incarcerated in the past(Cooke, 2005). Additionally, children of incarcerated parents are approximately six times more likely than other children to be incarcerated themselves, and half of incarcerated juveniles have parents who have been to jail or prison (Willmot & Olphen, 2005). Finally, current state and federal laws can further disrupt the lives of children whose parents are incarcerated by terminating parental rights and placing the child into the system of foster care. The disruption of family relationships due to increased incarcerations of African American men has a profound effect on women as well. More than likely, these women are already living a life of poverty residing in below standard housing communities. To add to their problems, they tend to face the possibility of eviction from public housing when they are unable to pay rent. The issue of eviction also comes about when their significant other who has supported her financially is convicted and incarcerated. Not only women, but also the entire family may face possible evictions from public housing if a house member or guest is convicted of a drug related crimes and other criminal charges. This is a result of the “One strike and you’re out law.” Additionally, a woman who occupies public housing by law is not allowed to permit her loved one who has been released from prison to reside legally in the same public housing unit with the family (Fullilove, 2000). Therefore it is clear that the failure to secure housing and employment reduces one’s chance of a successful post-release and a reuniting of family. Incarceration affects political participation. Inmates are prohibited from voting while serving a felony sentence in 46 states and the District of Columbia. Additionally, ten states disenfranchise all ex-offenders who have completed their criminal sentence (Freudenberg, 2001). Given current rates of incarceration, three in ten of the next generation of black men can expect to be disenfranchised at some point in life. These statistics have serious implications on democratic processes and racial inclusion (Freudenberg, 2001). Without the ability to vote, it becomes more difficult for urban areas to compete with the suburbs for resources in state legislatures that will ultimately benefit the community. With their right to vote taken away, inmates no longer have a political voice to change laws that they may have inequitably suffered from. In addition to disrupting family relationships, contributing to poverty, and negatively impacting the voting process, mass incarcerations are also cost ineffective for both society in general and African Americans. The cost of incarceration can be very expensive and counter productive in terms of monetary value, psychosocially and the health of individuals and communities. When considering the expenses for security, healthcare, food, emergency care, and other major requirements for incarcerating any individual, it would cost more to send an inmate to prison for a year than to Harvard University for a year (Prisoners in 2000, 2001). The amount of money that it takes to incarcerate one person could be used for youth after school programs, classes that offer job-building skills, healthcare, and better housing. The exponential expansion of the correctional system and high incarceration rates diverts resources from other social needs, especially education and health. By 1995, there were more black men in prison and jail in the United States than in colleges and universities (Cole, 1999). Increasing ones education is probably the one sure asset that an individual can depend on to make it out of poverty and run-down neighborhoods. A higher education secures better high paying jobs, which enables community members to give back to the community. A young teen that is headed down the wrong path can learn from the experience of someone from his or her neighborhood “making it,”. Stories of success can give others hope. However, the light of home hope can be quickly snuffed off with the memory of members of their community being driven away by police officers to the nearest jail. The damage that incarceration does to the community, family, and children lasts for years, even decades. Therefore as public health professionals we must learn to better assess the problem of incarceration by starting at the origin. There is an need for policy reform that is mindful of both the negative impact of incarceration on individual lives and the systematic damage caused by incarceration to the already marginal communities from which most inmates are drawn (Young, 2006). Through an in-depth root cause analysis we should be able to find out why African-Americans are disproportionately represented in federal, state, and county prisons and jails. Only after thorough assessments have been conducted with community members in some of the toughest areas of the community will we be able to move forward in designing and planning preventive solutions for the African-American community and its residents. The community guide to social environment and health models’ basic principle is that having access to societal resources will determine community health outcomes. Standard of living, culture, history, technology, economic systems, political structures, built environments, and social initiatives are all societal resources that a population draws upon to sustain health. Fundamental access to societal resources varies among socio-economic groups and usually is more available to those who live “upstream.” Prosperity, whether at the community, family, or personal level provides resources such as knowledge, money, power, and prestige, which can be used to avoid or buffer exposure to health risk (Anderson et al. 2003). Poverty on the other hand has a powerful influence on health status. An impoverished social environment has potential sources of stressors like high-crime communities that inevitably results in the scarcity of community resources to include after-school programs or homeless shelters (McEwen, 2001). The degree to which equity and social justice exist in a society is reflected in the distribution of resources within a population (Sen, 2002). Macroeconomic research shows us that, in addition to economic prosperity, equality in the distribution of wealth is a characteristic of societies that improves population health status and reduces health disparities. If the federal, state and local government would spend more of its funds on reducing poverty, reducing health disparities, ensuring the safety of schools, providing health insurance, fixing up unlivable public housing units, providing incentives for completing high school, and furthering education, maybe incarceration would not be the public health problem that it currently is in the United States. In many cities, and states, correctional services have been the fastest growing sector of the budget and many cities spend more on jails than public health (Freudenberg, 2001). One of the most devastating effects of mass incarceration is how communities most affected by it experience a deep sense of powerlessness. As a public health worker, one must empower individuals on individual and community levels by meeting with key informants in the community and speaking at community events and social gatherings. Another approach of empowering a community is by forming partnerships with formal service delivery systems and work towards structural change on the war on drugs and sentence reform act. From a political point of view, public health workers can form coalitions and advocate for policy changes such as an end to the welfare ban for some offenders and one-strike housing policies. Additionally we must confront policy makers about the need for sentencing reform and advocate for alternatives to incarceration. Since many African Americans already experience poorer health outcomes, expansion of jails and prisons worsens the disparities in health between the poor and the better off. Public health professionals can relay the voices of communities most affected by these polices directly to policy makers. Increasing communication between medical staff members who work in jails and prisons is imperative to decreasing recidivism by ex-inmates as well as ensuring they are receiving adequate healthcare. One would hope that obtaining proper diagnosis and treatment for infectious diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and Hepatitis C would decrease the likelihood of an inmate transmitting these conditions to others in the general population once released back into society. Additionally, counseling inmates before their release regarding community resources that offer family counseling, healthcare, employment services, drug treatment programs, and religious ministries is imperative for a successful reentry into the community as well as becoming productive citizens. The fundamental causes of crime and incarceration are the same as for poor health: poverty, racism, income inequality, and lack of opportunity. Public health historically has reduced injustice as part of its mission and finding ways to revitalize this dimension of our discipline is an important task. (Freudenberg, 2001). We must combine with others to advocate for new avenues to enhance both community health and public safety in the United States. Caging more and more African Americans for long periods will not address the real problems in our society. Instead, addressing social justice, healthcare, housing, and education issues will. Read More