The United States, with more than 5.1 million people confined in prisons or jails or under some form of correctional control, has the highest incarceration rate in the world. The United States also imprisons more of its racial minorities than any other country in the world.
In Washington, D.C., the numbers are even higher - three out of every four young black men are expected to serve some time in prison. An estimated 60,000 people in Washington, D.C., have criminal records, and about...
more »The United States, with more than 5.1 million people confined in prisons or jails or under some form of correctional control, has the highest incarceration rate in the world. The United States also imprisons more of its racial minorities than any other country in the world.
In Washington, D.C., the numbers are even higher - three out of every four young black men are expected to serve some time in prison. An estimated 60,000 people in Washington, D.C., have criminal records, and about 8,000 of them return to the city each year after serving sentences in prison or jail. (2) According to one local advocate, "For the generation of black children today, there's almost an inevitable aspect of going to prison." (3)
These individuals have often been introduced into a life of crime at an early age and have been traumatized by its accompanying violence.
"We dropped out of school, no nothing, no more education, straight to guns, straight to killings, straight to drugs. I wanted a piece of that American dream....By the time I was 21, I had over 15 friends of mine already murdered...brutally murdered. And the ones that were not brutally murdered, they ended up incarcerated." (4)
After serving time in prison, many are resolved to turn their lives around and avoid being sucked back into the cycle of drugs and violence. However, they are released back into society with little or no transitional support. Persons with an arrest or conviction record encounter significant barriers that persist long after their criminal sentence is completed, including unemployment, lack of available housing, restrictions on their eligibility for public assistance, substance abuse, and physical and mental health problems. Taken together, these lingering penalties are called "collateral consequences." (5)
Moreover, imprisonment affects many other people besides the incarcerated individual. In fact, it is estimated that, for every person that is incarcerated, there are about ten people, including children, family members, and community members, who are also directly affected. My interviews with incarcerated men and their families universally confirm this tragic fact.
The burden of conviction and the constant reminders of the past are constant sources of pain and anguish that rarely wane. Although these men have firmly resolved to turn their lives around, they often waver, and the challenges they are confronted with make them want to give up.
This project casts light on their plight in the hope that we will do more to help these men succeed in becoming productive members of society and caring family members.
1) The Council for Court Excellence, Reentry Report, 2011
2) Alexander, Michelle (2010). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.
3) Marc Mauer, Director of the Sentencing Project.
4) Excerpted from an interview with a formerly incarcerated man.
5) The Council for Court Excellence, Reentry Report, 2011
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