Mass Incarceration, a Systemwide Failure

I argue in the mainstream media, (prisons) are fetishized and prisoners are largely cast as the other. I want to convince people that prisoners are us and the prisons are ours. Prisoners are a part of our society. And so it is incumbent on us to care about how they function, and to analyze and keep check if they’re doing things well.

I wanna persuade people to care about this issue that's largely invisible.

We have a culture that routinely laughs about prison rape.

If you are a black male born today, if trends continue, you have a one in four chance of being incarcerated in your lifetime. For white males, it's something like one in seventeen, one in eighteen.

Imprisonment in America, is a huge social experiment, and I argue that it's failed.

Our prisons aren't full of dangerous predators, whatever our politicians would like to tell us.

Prisoners are largely cast as "the other", I wanna convince people that prisoners are us and the prisons are ours. Prisons are part of our society so it's incumbent on us to care about how they function and to analyse and keep check if they're doing things well.