Talk:Incarceration in the United States

There is Obviously More Industry Surrounding Prisons and Jails Than Those Operated Privately
This treatment of this subject seems to narrowly focus on the economy surrounding incarceration by fixation upon privately operated prisons, an important element for those looking to grasp the topic, but hardly the only element worth explaining to that audience such that they may understand some elements perpetuating this system other than the traditional red herrings that merely inflame certain redundant tensions thus provide cover for what is more easily addressed by those seeking what they believe better or more humane alternatives. Even in the operation by state and federal entities, it takes little imagination on the part of the observer to imagine that there would be numerous industries that the prison's (or jail's, I prefer using prison and generally mean either or both) operation would need to deal with on a consistent basis. Even where laundry services for the inmates are provided by internal labor, it is unlikely that the operation of any of these facilities involves the turning of raw cotton into the inmates uniforms and equally unlikely that wholesale importers of such materials typically go through the process required to do business with either state or federal entities. This implies a corporate entity working as middleman with the appropriate licenses to do that business, which likely is reflected in the organization's name and there exists some data on contractors authorized to do business with US public entities thus there is no deficit of sources for a more comprehensive analysis.

Certainly no correctional department sources the food consumed by those in its care from the parcels of land enclosed in the facility's walls in intensive food forest style agriculture, thus another industry that must interact with prisons, thus has a stake in the continuation of that process and if contributing to the super PACs, re-election campaigns, think tanks that actually draft what later after pork barrelling and other revisions becomes the standing law of the land or other elements of civil society would be inclined to indicate this preference to the representatives debating the very laws that the violation stocks these prisons with inmates for duration also set in the same process. Another would be from the medical services firms that sell their products for the tending of the prisoners medical needs, including those with life sentences who eventually require geriatric and end-of-life medical supplies and may find public agencies in the US more pleasant customers who lacking a profit pressure on their organization will tend to accept significantly higher prices than private insurance and the private hospitals that have to pass the cost to those insurers. Wouldn't these medical firms, regardless of how they find the public as customers, be interested in the dolling out of longer sentences requiring more medical care extending more often into geriatric care? (and to those inclined to criticism of this whole system, isn't this a most insidious and suspiciously neglected of almost all critical analysis?)

And wouldn't these firms be getting more consistent revenue from public or private correctional facilities that exist to facilitate orders by the courts than were those individuals who tend to be disadvantaged economically than trying to sell these same products to them directly if their poverty was left unaddressed but they were free confinement and free to make these decisions for themselves....

Nonetheless, these are hardly novel ideas, a concept is floated of a prison-industrial complex which does not constrain its analysis to facilities operated privately from which it draws the whole of its critique thus the intersection of economic interests and the publicly mandated confinement in public and private facilities for purposes of punishment for convicted criminals, this should be reflected in this article. Great place for some improvement on the article's quality is to make it more fully address as much. ThomasLeonHighbaugh (talk) 19:06, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: African American Studies
— Assignment last updated by Hundredjshpt (talk) 15:16, 15 November 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Geographies of Energy and Sustainability
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Wiki Education assignment: Gender and Public Policy
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Wiki Education assignment: Senior Seminar
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Environmental Effects of Prisons in the U.S.
Over the next couple of weeks, I will be adding a section under the "Effects" tab on this article regarding the Environmental Effects of Incarceration in the United States. I will first discuss how prisons are affecting the environment surrounding the prison. This includes the contribution to water contamination and air pollution due to not following EPA guidelines. I will also discuss how prisons often do not submit Environmental Impact Statements like they are supposed to. I will also include the fact that many prisons are built on or close to Superfund sites, which are extremely toxic.

I will follow with a paragraph about environmental and energy justice concerns for incarcerated individuals. This will include how individuals are exposed to such toxins mentioned before and their lack of access to heating and air conditioning.

I will end with a paragraph discussing the movement for "green prisons" around the United States. I will define what a green prison is and how the proposed changes to making prisons more sustainable.

Let me know if there are any concerns you may have with these proposed edits! Cyclegirl22 (talk) 20:38, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Global Poverty and Practice
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Prison education programs in the United States
I will be adding information to the section under "History" in this article to include structural racism and its impacts to historically marginalized groups in the United States. I will first expand the paragraph starting with "Following the Civil War and during the Progressive Era of America" to include the history of slavery being abolished and how that influenced the legal system. I will also discuss the impacts of disparate sentencing and mass incarceration on black people.

I will move the last sentence in the paragraph starting with "Broader socioeconomic inequality and disparities..." under the section "Race and ethnicity" to follow the sentence "In 2021, people of color constituted over two-thirds..." for ease of reading.

I will amend the tab "Prison education" under the section "Features of the criminal justice system" to include the reversal of the Pell Grant ban and peer tutor programs. I will discuss how changes in funding and legislation have revived programs across the United States and who is included in the conversations. Lfreeman333 (talk) 15:23, 24 April 2024 (UTC)