States and Black Incarceration in America

Mother Jones magazine did an exhaustive analysis of the incarceration rates in the USA, and their statistics, taken from various federal and international sources, show a frightening picture of this nation as a locked down nation for a large segment of their population.

The US is number one, as we love to say, in incarceration of its citizens; we are only seconded by Russia. This means that the US has two million of its citizens in federal and state prisons and jails. And the gross unfairness of this system is that the vast majority of those in prisons are nonwhite citizens. That, of course, is no surprise; we all know how criminal nonwhites are in America. 

Some interesting aspects of this study of prison statistics are these:
California, which has the sixth largest economy in the world, (including its Silicon Valley), and a population that is 52% nonwhite, and is supposedly on the cutting edge of racial and social tolerance, has a prison population that is 69% nonwhite. And, of course, with a Black population that is only 7%, it has a prison population that is 32% Black. And this large population of Black inmates has helped this enlightened state to be the sixth state in incarceration rates. 

While California is enlightened, its prison growth rate places it 18 among the states in prison spending; most of those in prison are there for drug offenses—selling and using; California is rated number three among the states for incarcerating drug offenders and 45^th among the states in spending on education. And among states that have a large racial disparity between those who are incarcerated and their numbers in society, California ranks 47^th, so there are other states that are more vicious to their Black minority populations than California. 

Texas for instance, the state of President Bush (and thanks in part to Bush), ranks number three in spending on prisons, while it is ranked 20^th on education spending, and ranks 15^th in incarcerating drug offenders. It ranks number one in putting citizens to death. Texas has a Black population of 11% but a Black prison population of 44%. 

And in Florida, where the President’s brother is governor, even though the state ranks 49^th in incarceration rates and 28^th in prison spending, Florida has a Black population that equals 14%, yet a Black prison population that is 54%. Blacks in that state have a majority only in the prison population. Florida ranks 18^th in spending on education. 

The states that have the largest Black prison populations are these:

State…………………Black Population………….Black Prison Pop.

Georgia                              29%                                             64%

Ohio                                 12%                                              52%

Iowa                                   2%                                              24%

Minnesota                          3%                                                37%

Wisconsin                          6%                                                48%

Illinois                              15%                                                65%

Missouri                           11%                                               45%

Arkansas                          16%                                               52%

Louisiana                         33%                                                76%

Mississippi                      36%                                                 75%

Alabama                          26%                                                65%

Tennessee                        16%                                                53%

Kentucky                           7%                                                36%

Indiana                              8%                                                 42%

Michigan                         14%                                                 55%

South Carolina                30%                                                  69%

North Carolina                22%                                                   64%

Virginia                           20%                                                   68%

Pennsylvania                    10%                                                  56%

New York                       15%                                                  51%

Delaware                        19%                                                   63%

Maryland                       28%                                                 77%

Connecticut                      9%                                                   47%

New Jersey                    13%                                                   64%

Rhode Island                   4%                                                    30% 

The states where Blacks are not being placed in prison as a matter of course are Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, and Idaho, even though their general populations are small. 

Most of the states with a majority of Black prisoners are found in the south. However, Maryland, which isn’t generally viewed as a southern state, has the largest percentage of Black prisoners—77%. But Wisconsin, with a tiny Black population of 6%, has a Black prison population of 48%. And Mississippi, with the largest Black population of 36%, has a Black prison population of 75%. 

Although Blacks are moving back to the south, the prison rates for Blacks in the south is generally higher than in the north and west. However, proportionally, that is not true. 

Without a doubt, Blacks are no more criminal than anyone else in this society. Yet, for as long as this country has existed, Blacks have gone through this nation’s criminal justice system and have always been found wanting.  Of course, poverty impacts on criminality, but there is more to the large proportion of Blacks in the criminal justice and prison systems of America than poverty. The system is untoward toward African Americans primarily and other ethnic minorities generally. 

This negativity toward Blacks is because of the individuals who administer the systems and the assumptions, biases, and cultural prejudices they bring to justice. It does not matter what system one lives under: if it is contaminated by bias, prejudices, and preconceived notions, that system cannot function fairly. 

The full report can be considered in detail at Mother Jones online. The magazine takes a look at how America got to this prison mentality, the diseases and criminality that prison breeds, the costs of incarceration, and the alternatives to prisons. []
Gibbs Analysis 7/01
  

Home