The topic i have chosen for my annotated bibliography is why the Prison Industrial complex is considered modern day slavery
Notes:
The prison industrial complex is the use of policing, surveillance, and imprisonment as solutions to economic, social, and political problems.
The population of people of color is the highest in comparison to other races.
Though slavery is illegal, the prison system incorporates the economic interests of the government to force inmates to work for cheap labor.
Lockup quotas are a minimum number of prisoners that must be incarcerated in order to suffice the agreement with state governments and prisons. State governments provide beds for the prisons and the prisons must keep them filled or at least 90 percent capacity.
Statistics from the NAACP: 84% of Black adults say white people are treated better than black people by police; 63% of white adults agree based on 2019 research on police relations. While white people make up a little over 60% of the population, they only make up about 41% of fatal police shootings. Black people make up 13.4% of the population, but make up 22% of fatal police shootings.
I learned that the prison industrial complex functions as a ‘legal’ form of slavery. Black adults make up majority of the prison population, reasons for this is racism. A Black person is five times more likely to be stopped without just cause than a white person, many officers hold prejudice against Blacks due to stigmas which lead them to treating them unjustly. In the time period we are in police brutality is evident, which contributes to the higher rates of blacks being incarcerated due to resisting arrest or petty crimes. When a person is incarcerated they are waved of their rights as citizens, including the right to fair wages. While in prison, they are given jobs or sent to factories to do cheap labor; wages averaging to about $0.30 – 1.35. They wages are servery low, especially considering the hours they could be told to work. This fuels the idea that the prison industrial complex fuels the economy through the lives of people of color incarcerated.
Questions
- Why can’t people of color find lawyers to effectively fight for their cases?
- How does the justice system work around laws to justify mass incarceration?
- What amendment allows prisoners to be waved of their rights?
- What stigmas fuel prejudice against people of color?
I might actually use this question:
What are the causes of mass incarceration? And how can we prevent it?
I think this will yield more research than the ones you have which might be too specific.