Mass incarceration in U.S. fueled by for-profit prisons

The U.S. has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Although our country accounts for just 5 percent of the world’s population, it houses 25 percent of the world’s prisoners — at least 2.3 million people, according to Ava DuVernay’s 2016 documentary, 13th.

DuVernay’s film explores the era we are living in — one defined by mass incarceration, beginning in the 1970s. Since then, incarceration rates have quintupled.

This growth is not by accident. In fact, for-profit correctional facilities like the Corrections Corporation of America, now CoreCivic, have a major incentive to keep prisons filled, because a steady influx of bodies generates profit that goes to shareholders. The result is a multimillion-dollar industry that profits off punishment — mostly against people of color.

As DuVernay’s film illustrates, the American system of law and order has always exploited Black and brown people in service of the U.S. economy, stripping them of rights that were supposedly won in the civil rights movement.

The film cites that while Black men account for only 6.5 percent of the population, they account for 40.2 percent of the prison population. Similarly, while only 1 in 17 white men goes to jail in his lifetime, the stats are 1 in 3 for Black men and 1 in 6 for Latino men.

New Mexico’s incarceration rate stands out internationally, with 829 imprisoned per 100,000 people.

This increased chance of incarceration for Black or Latino men, however, is not associated with breaking the law more often. Instead, it’s correlated with unfair sentencing policies, implicit racial biases and socioeconomic inequities that contribute to racial disparities within the criminal justice system itself.

The Santa Fe Dreamers Project, which provides free legal services to immigrants and refugees in the area, notes that private prisons are “widely recognized as a form of modern slavery, [as] they center profit over the public interest and are built on a legacy of deeply entrenched racism.”

The organization’s research reveals that retirement funds of educators in New Mexico have direct holdings in CoreCivic as well as GeoGroup, which invest in private prisons and mental health facilities globally. The goal of the program’s New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Prison Divestment Campaign is to divest the retirement funds from these companies.

On the webpage for the Santa Fe Dreamers Project’s divestment campaign is a quote from one of Angela Davis’ books that reads: “Prisons do not disappear problems, they disappear human beings. And the practice of disappearing vast numbers of people from poor, immigrant, and racially marginalized communities has literally become big business.”

In another book by Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete?, the longtime political activist reveals shocking data about our state’s prison system: New Mexico imprisons 44 percent of its prison population in private facilities, and “federal, state, and county governments pay private companies a fee for each inmate, which means that private companies have a stake in retaining prisoners as long as possible, and in keeping their facilities filled.”

Additionally, the Santa Fe Dreamers Project cites that nationwide, more than 50,000 immigrants are detained in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers — the highest number in U.S. history. More than 70 percent of those detained are in for-profit prisons.

There are countless stories of people of color, transgender people and other marginalized groups being treated inhumanely in these facilities. A system where these injustices happen so routinely needs to be dismantled.

I strongly believe that if we want to make real change and work toward the liberty our nation champions, it is crucial we take a closer look at our prisons and immigrant detention centers, as well as other societal issues in the country’s health care and education systems. To me, dedication to my country does not mean blind obedience of centuries-old laws; instead, it is a lifelong effort to ensure equity and liberty for every person who resides within its borders.

As a white woman, I can’t begin to understand the oppression experienced by people of color every day, but I can use my privilege to stand up against it.

The Santa Fe Dreamers Project points to the Freedom Cities Movement, which advocates that we invest in our planet, safety beyond policing, and sanctuary for immigrants and refugees, and divest from militarization and punishment. Similarly, I would encourage Santa Feans to look beyond the potentially frightening appearance of words like “defund,” “divest” and “abolish,” and to instead look to the transformative solutions those words signify. When American law enforcement and incarceration systems are built in service of some, while explicitly endangering and devaluing the lives of others, simply reforming those systems is no longer sufficient.

I have taken it upon myself to research solutions on my own, to educate myself and those around me on my findings, and to amplify voices of people of color. It’s critical for all white people to commit to being lifelong students, unafraid to make mistakes but determined to correct them.

Emma Lawrence is a recent graduate of Santa Fe Preparatory School. Contact her at emmalawrence256@ gmail.com.