The Interlocutor

40 years ago today, the Attica Uprising began, and I encourage you to read this op-ed in the NYT that exposes some of the details of the ordeal.

Unfortunately, the United States continues to incarcerate a huge portion of it’s population, leading the world in incarceration rates.  Here are some quick facts on the injustices of our prison system:

• One in three African-American males will be incarcerated in a state or federal prison at some point in their lives.  The rate is significantly higher for black men who don’t graduate from high school.  For Hispanic males, the rate is one in six; for white men, the rate is one in 17 (The Academic Achievement Gap: Facts & Figures http://www.tc.columbia.edu/news/article.htm?id=5183).
• Under apartheid, South Africa (1993) incarcerated Black males at a rate of 851 per 100,000. In the United States under George Bush (2006), Black males were incarcerated at a rate of 4,789 per 100,000 (prisonsucks.com).
• Every year an inmate spends in prison costs taxpayers an average of $22,000. As prisoners get older, the cost of maintenance rises, ultimately reaching an average of $69,000/year for those over the age of 55. A study by a Stanford University professor estimated that the cost of a life term for an average California prisoner is $1.5 million (The Facts About Crime www.prisonpolicy.org/articles/factsaboutcrime.pdf).
• Locking up more offenders for longer periods of time does not significantly reduce the crime rate. Academic research has shown little or no correlation between crime rates and the number of people in prison. States with high rates of imprisonment may or may not have high rates of crime, while states with low rates of crime may or may not have high rates of imprisonment. Nationally, the fat that the prison population has quadrupled and there are still about 12 million crimes reported each year should further illustrate the point that we cannot incarcerate-away the crime rate (The Facts About Crime www.prisonpolicy.org/articles/factsaboutcrime.pdf).

The 40th anniversary of the Attica Prison riots offers us all an opportunity to remember the continued injustice of our justice system. Take action.