PRISONERS IN THE ERA OF MASS INCARCERATION
AKSHAYAN K S & APARNA S
B.COM.LLB (HONS), SCHOOL OF LAW,
SASTRA DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY
TAMILNADU
ABSTRACT:
It is rightly quoted by John Legend that “Mass incarceration is a policy built up over the last four decades and it destroyed families and communities; and something we need to change. And it fell disproportionally on black and brown, especially black communities, and it’s kind of a manifestation of structural racism”. Even though crime rates have been declining, still mass incarceration has been continued in U.S. Mass incarceration infiltrates the lives of families and has a major implication for inequality. Patterns of incarceration have a devastating effect on the level of voting and overall trust in legal within communities. Reforms for the criminal justice system cannot be accomplished without acknowledgment of racial and ethical disparities in prison patterns and also reduce such disparities. Mass incarceration not only worsens racial disparities for the impacted group but society as a whole, weakening the justice system potential and undermining perceptions of justice. As the era of mass incarceration peaks, it is necessary to consider the interest of the inmate’s society and connection to prison stability, rehabilitation, and community reintegration.
MASS INCARCERATION
Introduction:
On speaking with the development of a country, various factors flow into the field such as economy, resources, population and etc. Any act to be done by the nation, there requires a human source for its implementation. Thus the population of a country decides the stability of the nation too. But on the other hand, if there is a huge population behind the bars of the nation or simply said “under prison” does this make the nation proud or continue to hold its stability? The answer to this question varies with each person who thinks. The common possibilities are
• Either the laws must be strict in that country
• Or the number of criminals must be huge which implies the weakness of law
This increase in population behind the bars is termed as “Mass Incarceration”. This increase in population in the prison has both good and bad impacts on the nation. If the right-thinking people in society consider the 1st point of possibility it gives a good impact where else if the 2nd point is considered it gives a bad impression. There is another possibility too, the strictness of law at a higher rate also creates the people to become criminals. But this statement does not stand guarantee for a long period. Each country has its own reason for the crime level and its control measures. Therefore upcoming article deals with the question related to whether the country establishes its effectiveness in its laws and bringing criminals under control.
Mass Incarceration in “The Developed Nations”:
The United States has the highest prison population and highest incarceration rate in the world. In 2015, the U.S held 21% of the world‘s prisoners, even though they represented only 4.4 percent of the world’s population (https://www.census.gov/popclock). Russia is considered to be the second-largest country for mass incarceration. Total incarceration in U. S peaked in 2008. More than 1 in 100 adults were in jail. It is one form of punishment and rehabilitation for the commission of a crime. According to 2014, Human Rights Watch report “tough-on-crime” laws were adopted and they have filled prisons with non- violent offenders. More than 15% of state prisoners in 2015 have been convicted for a drug offense. This policy failed to rehabilitate prisoners and many became worse on release. Criminal laws in the U.S are in concurrent power. People who violate state laws are placed in state prisons while those who violate federal laws are placed in federal prisons operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). In 2016, 90% of prisoners were in state prisons and 10% in federal prisons (John Pfaff (January 28, 2017). "A Better Approach to Violent Crime". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 28, 2017).
Mass Incarceration and Race- U.S:
There was a steep upturn in U. S where the incarceration rate started in the year 1970. This was the period wherein there were rising crime, social unrest, and major transformation race relations. State and Federal Government responded by imprisoning people including those guilty of drug offenses as well as violent crimes. It also led to serious issues of social justice because it was heavily skewed towards poor minority men with less than high school educational attainments. African American male high school dropouts are likely to be sent to jail than college-educated white men (https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2018/06/05/451647/mass-incarceration-stress-black-infant-mortality/ June 5, 2018, 9:01 am). In 2010, more than one -third of African American male high school dropouts aged 20 to 39 were in prison. Legislatures sent so many offenders to prison in a hope that the crime rates would be reduced. But during the year when prisons were filled, crime rates fluctuated. Even when crimes rated were reduced, the penalties remained the same-U. S prisons admitted new convicts. Where black women were likely to be imprisoned than their white counterparts. Black women and their children are more likely than their white counterparts to have indirect contact with the criminal justice system. Millions of black women suffered from stress associated with having a family member incarcerated. The emotional and financial costs undermine the long- term health of women and children. This toxic stress from mass incarceration increases the risk of infant mortality for black women as they cannot access protective factors such as health, income. Interpersonal racism is not the only source that leads to stress among black women. Racist public policies, cultural representations perpetuate racial inequity and expose black people to significant stressors. Therefore, there operates two distinct criminal justice systems-one is for wealthy people and one for poor people and people of color.
Possible Recommendations:
The causes of racial disparities are complex and deeply rooted. The impact of racial disparities is experienced through the country’s criminal justice system. The U.S can adopt measures that reduce the existence and effects of racial disparities in its criminal justice system.
One of its measures can be substantially ending its war on drugs. The Department of Justice can reconsider and reduce the volume of drug offenders who are at a lower level.
The U.S can eliminate mandatory minimum sentencing. Judges can be allowed to decide and consider a case and its characteristics while sentencing a defendant in every case.
A well designed and transparent risk assessment can be used to find as to who should release on their own recognizance, who should be released with some requirements and who should be detained.
It can fully fund indigent agencies through the proper mix of local, state, federal resources. They should also support training and technical assistance for indigent defense.
They should adopt policies at both federal and state levels requiring the use of racial impact statements for sentencing policies.
The country must develop and implement designs to mitigate the influence of racial bias at every level of the criminal justice system: police officers, public defenders, prosecutors, judges, parole boards.
Also, the Federal Government should allow Americans to vote regardless of their conviction status. Government officials must revise policies and address collateral consequences on people with criminal convictions such as job opportunities, educations, housing, a social safety net (https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/un-report-on-racial-disparities/APRIL 19, 2018).
Mass incarceration in INDIA:
When compared with a developed country like US India holds the least positions in the rate of mass incarceration (https://www.thehindu.com/data/five-charts-that-explain-indias-incarceration-rate/article6552717.ece) the same 2 possibilities arises once again along with few more
• Either the count of criminals is less
• The law enacted is not effective in capturing the criminals and holding them behind the bars.
All the 4 possibilities are possible for a huge nation like INDIA. But on the view of the government which lies the best? The daily motive of the government is to form the people in an organized manner by implementing respective rules. If any new crime enters the world the nations immediately join hands with each other or enact their own laws as a precaution to protect the rights of its own people. But enactment of laws alone does not take the nation up rather it needs proper implementation. Such implementation has respective punishments related to the seriousness of the crime. There are certain punishments followed in India. They are penalties, imprisonment varying in a time period (from 1 month to life imprisonment), rigorous imprisonment varying in a time period (from a short period to life imprisonment), capital punishment (popularly known as death punishment) which stays as a serious punishment and are given for rarest to rarest cases (http://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-2174-capital-punishment-justice-for-murder-or-murder-for-justice.html). Thus criminals under capital punishment stay less when compared with other criminals. When considering other punishment petty crimes involves small punishments mentioned above, but serious crimes involve rigorous imprisonment where the criminals are forced to do hard works similar to rock breaking, etc. Since the term rigorous imprisonment has no proper definition in any of the statutes the difference between simple imprisonment (SI) and rigorous imprisonment (RI) as said by Neeraj Kumar, DG Tihar Prisons is that the convicts of SI has a choice of work but a convict of RI has no choice of work (https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/how-rigorous-is-rigorous-imprisonment/story-iI9IUQGLwcZsoGckuIb3IL.html).
Therefore the government of India has made its possible steps to bring the crime rates under control with people’s co-operation. But the long term motive of the nation is to bring the crime rate to zero and making every prison to be empty with no criminals. This statement does not mean to release all criminals for no reason; rather it means the change of citizens into a proper human being and letting them free. In order to bring the mass incarceration level down in India, the population which is under trail can be reduced which can be enforced only when the courts and the police join hands. At the same time increasing the number of courts alone does not reduce it. But how come a European country makes a criminal free nation and bringing the prison population to be zero?
No Crime, No Prison - NETHERLANDS:
Among all the nations in the world planning to fulfill a long term goal of reducing the population in prison and bringing the criminals under control the only European country “Netherlands” succeeded in making its nation a crime-free nation (https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/no-crime-no-prison-this-european-country-has-no-criminals-to-put-behind-the-bars-1239372-2018-05-23 India Today Web Desk New Delhi May 23, 2018). The country faced a major effect due to these zero prisoners, which is the Loss of prison jobs which leads increase in jobless citizens. In order to tackle such a situation, the country imported the criminals from Norway to make their system into running progress. But there rises a question that how come the nation implemented the task of bringing zero criminals? The answer to this question is that the nation believes in the rehabilitation of the criminals rather than putting them behind the bars. In order to execute its principles, the country attached a device strapped hooked to the ankle that records every activity of the released citizens. This monitoring activity reduced the crime rates and thus brought the nation to a good position
Netherlands and India:
Why can’t the practices followed in the Netherlands be implemented in India and other countries? The answer to this question lies with the nation itself. Which means the population stands as a barrier for its implementation. When compared with the Netherlands it had only 19 prisoners in the year 2013. At the same time, they not only believed in rehabilitation but also relaxed certain laws such as the drug laws and etc. For example, under the drug laws, the nation targeted the supply chain of drugs (https://theculturetrip.com/europe/the-netherlands/articles/why-crime-rate-in-the-netherlands-is-so-low/ Tom Coggins 19 October 2017) which leads to the reduction in the crime rate of possession and use of drugs. Thus monitoring that 19 criminals were easy for the nation but in India, the population of the prison is higher than the Netherlands thus it makes it difficult for the country to follow such practices. Meanwhile relaxing the laws does not affect the main criminals alone but also the people living at every stage related to the economy.
Possible Recommendation:
India in order to control the movement of criminals within the country can introduce the concept of “Three Striker Laws”. This means the criminals shall be imprisoned for life imprisonment if a particular person performs different crimes more than three times (https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/three-strikes-laws-in-different-states.html). Such introduction of laws increases the rate of prisoners having life imprisonment which directly increases the maintenance cost for prison; it brings down the rate of criminal movements within the territory. This has a direct impact on reducing the crime rate in the country.
Aftermath of Mass Incarceration:
Undoubtedly, mass incarceration had a severe and negative impact on society as a whole. Around 2.3 individuals lost their jobs, homes, family connection, and their freedom. Prisoners struggled to reenter into society (http://www.ccano.org/blog/how-mass-incarceration-affects-communities/). Often health care facilities were poor and opportunities for work and education were scarce. In turn, their earnings remain low. It is very difficult for released prisoners to re-enter the workforce. This leads to higher state and federal government assistance payouts, loss of income tax revenue and drains the amount of monetary investment that can be used for essential welfare programs. In addition to this, high rates of incarceration are expensive for both federal and state Governments for maintaining the prisoners. It is therefore important to note that the higher the people incarcerated, the higher the unemployment rate (https://www.ntdaily.com/the-negative-effects-on-the-economy-caused-by-mass-incarceration/February 24 22:36, 2020). Many became ineligible for public housing and other supports such as food and other basic needs. Collateral bans often lead to higher recidivism. Also, children of prisoners became neither homeless, impoverished nor they had any basic needs. Released prisoners lose their right to vote or to hold public office. A spread of infectious disease is also possible. Incarceration affects neighborhoods by separating or breaking up families, weakening financial health, and purchasing power. These consequences faced by them deepen the layers of inequality. Communities having high levels of incarceration lose human capital as individuals are displaced, families torn apart and institutions weakened. It may also impede marriage prospects among former prisoners, behavioral problems among their children. In short, prisoners were physically and mentally affected. The treatment for this is scarce and services after the release are less common and have significant waitlists. Finally, it creates a path for the birth of recidivism which means people who get released after undergoing suitable punishment for the crime done in the past indulge themselves in practicing such crime regularly in order to face their regular needs. This again increases the crime rate and the number of criminals wandering. It does not affect an individual or a family or a community but a society as a whole. Fair hiring, protection from any sort of discrimination, and equal access to public benefits can be an ultimate solution to reduce such emerging criminals and improve the society around them.
Criminals - The workforce
As discussed above the practices followed in the Netherlands become difficult, but not impossible. But in India, there are criminals at various levels for various crimes. By the court’s they are categorized for simple imprisonment and rigorous imprisonment. As mentioned above RI does not have any proper definition so the punishment to be followed in RI is decided by the prison authorities. These prison authorities are empowered to deal with the situation in relation to The Prisoners Act, 1894. Meanwhile few more suggestions can also be included (i.e.) utilizing the RI criminals and the prisoners of life imprisonment as the best workforce for the development of the nation in other fields. The utilizing of RI criminals and the prisoners of life imprisonment alone for the development of the nation does not violate the fundamental right (Right to Equality) between the prisoners facing other punishments and the prisoners of RI and life imprisonment. Compared with the whole prison population the rate of prisoners for life imprisonment is less thus they can also be monitored similar to the Netherlands. As discussed above these criminals can be used as a workforce with proper protection, for example, India has various water bodies (lakes rivers and wells) but among the present water bodies very few survive with good maintenance but most of the water bodies are not maintained and leading to the growth of unwanted plants within the boundary of the water body and demolishing the area. At a periodic time interval, certain organizations or people with personal interest create a certain association for cleaning the water body, but they fail to maintain it continuously. This leads to a waste of work and money. Instead of this created association, the criminals as mentioned above for the development of the nation can be used to clean these areas with the same salary given when they go under harsh punishments. Further, a separate committee can be formed for its maintenance and few can be appointed to be permanently placed near the water body for its regular maintenance. This decreases the jobless situation prevailing in the nation. But all this should be followed only with suitable laws. When considering their work it should be granted only for nine hours per day as mentioned under section 35 of The Prisons Act, 1894 (https://indiankanoon.org/doc/626516/). This usage of criminals in the workforce has its traces and origin in ancient and medieval periods where the war captives were arrested and treated as slaves and used in places which has life risk jobs but now using such criminals in similar aspect would invite the violation of human rights because all nations have their own relationship with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and thus implementing the concept from the ancient idea in different aspects would not violate the human rights and at the same time as mentioned above it would solve the various running problem in the present. Proper implementation of laws in the future can make this example and some more concepts possible accompanied by reducing in crime level and making the Nation, another crime-free spot in the world.
Conclusion:
As discussed above mass incarceration always has its own possibility of thinking. Among the right-thinking people of the society, each has a different perspective of thought for this common topic because every law either in nature or in the judicial has its own positives and negatives. Thus we can conclude that stronger the laws more civilized and uniform the people, more the laws become strict exceeding its limit the more will be the rate of people becoming unorganized because the world has crossed the path of dictatorship and runs in the path of democracy.