What Is The Prison Industrial Complex?
“The dividends that accrue from investment in the punishment industry, like those that accrue from investment in weapons production, only amount to social destruction. Taking into account the structural similarities and profitability of business-government linkages in the realms of military production and public punishment, the expanding penal system can now be characterized as a ‘prison industrial complex"
“More than 70 percent of the imprisoned population are people of color. It is rarely acknowledged that the fastest growing group of prisoners are black women and that Native American prisoners are the largest group per capita.”
Over time, America has grown to be known as the “incarceration nation” of the world. Compared to other nations where the prisoner-to-population rate hovers around 100 prisoners per 100,000 people, in 2014 alone, the United States incarceration rate was 690 prisoners per 100,000 people, resulting in roughly 2.2 million prisoners.
“... prisons do not disappear problems, they disappear human beings. And the practice of disappearing vast numbers of people from poor, immigrant, and racially marginalized communities has literally become big business.”
Understanding the P.I.C. and its relationship between “the government, private industries, lobbyists, and politicians” is essential to comprehend the root of the issue. This unjust institution was set up in a way to disparage minority communities and take advantage of them. Discussing this issue and bringing awareness to it is essential, especially since, as more scholarship and media continue to examine the P.I.C., America will forever feel the pain left by the scars of the institution, especially as it relates to targeting individuals based on their identities. By contextualizing and sharing the stories of those incarcerated, especially in consideration of how their identities shape their experiences, we are one step closer to combating the injustices faced by so many individuals within the United States.
​The Prison Industrial Complex, sometimes referred to as the “P.I.C.” for short, refers to the current incarceration system within the United States that has evolved as a result of many different political and economic situations. The origin of the issue can be traced as far back as the passage of the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery in the US. However, the Amendment contains its closing line, “except as a punishment for crime.” To some, this creates a loophole that allows slavery to persist, even today, and that has taken the form of what is now known as the Prison Industrial Complex. ​
“The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that ‘Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction’
Author James Braxton Peterson in his book on the topic defines the Prison Industrial Complex as “the collection of social structures, systems, and policies– including institutional racism, the War on Drugs, and mass incarceration– that work together to confine and imprison more than 2 million American citizens.”
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Today, the number of non-White inmates confined within American prisons is startling. It is no surprise that Black African American men are among some of the most targeted in this unjust system. However, it is crucial to acknowledge the importance of intersectional identities when it comes to understanding the American incarceration system. Different aspects of identity– race, gender, sexuality– all play different roles in increasing the likeliness of an individual being targeted by this already unfair system, especially when these identities intersect.