Prison Industrial Complex

In America, imprisonment is being used as a means of correcting societal problems under the pretext of “crime”. Davis (1998), argues that the use of prisons in such a manner to perform what she terms “magic” to social problems is not offering correction it ought to do but rather has been used by the system of capitalists, including government to rake huge profits. This conversation of the penal structure into a chain of the profit-making vulture to benefit business-government is referred to as the “Prison Industrial Complex”. 

Prison industrial complex has expanded in the past decades to accommodate investments ranging from prison privatization to transportation of prisoners from state to state. This corporatization of punishment is defined as a prison industrial complex and it is growing so fast. Unfortunately, this corporatocracy is being advanced by the system bent on perpetuating racism amongst other discrimination against a sector of its population. Davis (1998), in her article, Prison Industrial Complex, states that “More than 70 per cent of the imprisoned population are people of colour.” She also notes that “…the fastest growing group of prisoners are black women…” Davis opines that this political economy relies on racialized assumptions of criminality. She submits that arrest, conviction, and sentencing patterns are racialized. To the people of colour, therefore, America reveals herself as a racist society that employs class bias to profit those in the penal system rather than solving the social problem she poses to address.

Contrary to solving major social problems in society, the prison industrial system is profiting from prisoners. Davis (1998), says that this “punishment” industry is becoming increasingly significant to the economy. She points out two correctional companies: Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Wackenhut Corrections Corporation (WCC), the first and second-largest prison companies respectively as doing extremely well in their revenues. For instance, between 1996 and 1997, CCA’s revenues increased by 58 per cent, from $293 million to $462 million. Its net profit grew from $30.9 million to $53.9 million. WCC raised its revenues from $138 million in 1996 to $210 million in 1997. It is worth noting that such profit margins are possible for non-union labour use. One can now see clearly why the tag “Prison Industrial Complex” suits this penal system. 

Besides the private prison facilities, other corporations have also benefited from the chain. Government contracts construction firms, architectures, technology companies and telephone companies such as MCI, which is notorious for charging inmates and their relations monstrous prices for telephone calls (Davis, 1998). Other companies that have been listed to have profited from prison labour include Whole Foods, McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, Victoria's Secret, AT & T, BP, Starbucks, Microsoft, Nintendo and American Airlines (Zambas, 2017). Common to all the listed companies is that they all reap the profit of prison labour. Davis (1998) describes the labour cost as, “a fraction of the cost of ‘free labour’.” She terms this as devouring social wealth because as the private companies reap their profits from cheap prison labour, the penal system in itself does not generate wealth. About the black, majority in cages, the system has been used to deny them education and a chance to realize the American dream through well-paying jobs in mainstream society.

Besides, Davis (1998) expounds her explanation of how the Prison Industrial Complex has been and is still being used as a weapon with a hidden agenda of perpetuating discrimination along racial lines. She noted that the presumed role that imprisonment is to play, which is safeguarding social welfare by locking up criminals is taking a detour to social control. For instance, California declared affirmative action illegal and the results can be witnessed as more blacks are incarcerated. She pens down shocking statistics, “Five times as many black men are presently in prison as in four-year colleges and universities.” This leaves one to wonder whether education is preserved for certain people but not others.

In short, the U.S. penal system does not serve its purpose but rather benefits government-private sector corporations while entrenching social control thus perpetuating systemic racism meant to disadvantage minorities and specifically people of colour. Hence, it should be resisted and be replaced with a system that is truly committed to social transformation within the society without bias. 

References

1. Angela Y. Davis, 1998. What is the Prison Industrial Complex? Why does it matter? Retrieved on 15th March 2021 from https://www.colorlines.com/articles/masked-racism-reflections-prison-industrial-complex
2. Joanna Zambas, 2017. 10 Companies that Use Prison Labour to Rake in Profits Retrieved on 15th March 2021 from https://www.careeraddict.com/prison-labour-companies