Over 1 million Black Males In Prison in the US and growing.....

Have you ever thought about the long term implications of what it means for a race of people to have over 1 million of their males locked away during their most productive years?  At this time lets not address whether they belong locked up or not. Let's just concentrate on the numbers and what they could mean to the future of Black people in America.

Based on the rate of incarceration, 32% of Black males will enter the state or federal prison system during their life time. And we wonder why are there so many Black single mother households. Some will tell you that Black people, especially Black males, are more prone to crime. Some how it must be in our genes. But they will never tell you that the prison industry is a $41 billion a year market, that creates jobs and business for construction , food , furniture, uniform and personal care product companies who are primarily white and who hire very few Black employees.

They won't tell you that many white communities beg to have prison facilities built near by because of the amount of jobs and supply contacts they generate.  But in order to keep all of this going, you must have a steady flow of customers....prison inmates. Corrections Corporation of America, one of the largest publicly traded prison operators in the country, generates over $3.5 billion a year. Nationally, an average of  $60,000 a year in tax dollars is spent on incarcerating each inmate.

There are mothers and fathers who don't have sons, children who don't have fathers, Black women who won't have husbands, and young Black women who are increasingly finding it harder to find a mate, because so many, who might have potential, are locked up. Look at the hard numbers that tell the real story... http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/crimoff.htm ...and tell us what you think.

"We Can Not Build Enough Prisons To Solve This Problem" says Presidential candidate John Edwards.

Comments

[Alice Mahomes]

The comments that there is a shortest of Black Male is not true, there are many in lock down. I am a mother of four young mens. One was murder without the police ever doing a fair investigation, these are black police caught up in the system themself, it is safe to say on the wrong side of the law themself.
That have left me with a mistrust issue concerning the authority in my town. We who are strong in the black culture need to rethink where we are V>S> to where we are going as a race of people.

[kmichael key]

I am not sure of the exact statistics for african americans in prison but i do know that the u.s. has over 2million people in prison.I am a member of CRITICAL RESISTANCE www.criticalresistance.org and crla@criticalresistance.org and WE ARE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX ABOLITIONISTS!!! WE KNOW THAT SLAVERY EXISTS TODAY IN THE FORM OF PRISONS AND CANNOT BE REFORMED THEY MUST BE ABOLISHED.EMAIL US AND FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR ORGANIZATION AND HELP OUR STRUGGLE.

[Sheila G]

I totally agree that the prison industrial complex has become a major player/component of the US Economy. With the alarming number of black males either in prison or out of work,the status and future of the black male, and therefore that of the black family, is in crisis. If this problem existed in other cultures, there would be a grass roots national effort to address and eradicate the problem. Why do we not have think tanks created to analyze, assess, plan, recruit, and execute a plan with short term and long term measurable results? With the wealth and immediate cash generated in our churches every Sunday, why has not one denomination or group of ministerial alliances taken on this issue? Where is the NAACP? The Urban League? The National Black Caucus? Even the UNCF should have this issue on the radar, but instead of attacking this issue which directly affects the number of black males that could be attending a HBCs instead of wasting away in jail, their answer seems to be to recruit white, indian, and latinos to take those spots. What a sad commentary.

What's interesting here is that none of the candidates who claim to be the voice of all americans have raised this issue in the presidential campaign. I've not heard the issue raised at forums, debates,or even mentioned at all. What I have seen and heard are a handful of so-called "black leaders" who take advantage of every opportunity to profit from each and every racially charged incident that makes national news. These self proclaimed activists are regulars on all the TV talk shows, make all the pundit rounds, and their number one objective seems to be to keep the conversation going and stir up as much controversy as possible so that their next book deal is increased. If we as a community are going to turn this crisis around, then those that take to the airways must use that platform to keep the pressure on and the focus on political and social reform. If we keep doing what we've done, we're gonna keep getting what we've got.

[LorMarie]

The stats are quite distressing...a hard cold reality.