This picture I chose this week was from the TV show empire, the scene is where one of the main characters Cookie Lyon is arrested and as she is put in the car she yells ” if I die in police custody I did not commit suicide”. I chose this because I remember watching Empire and just relaxing on one of my off days when I saw this scene and its ob…[Read more]

For week 6 I’m sharing a photo that I talked about in class. This photo is from an ad where a man is in the shower washing himself with a bar of soap while some happy-toned music is playing, until it slips out of his hand onto the ground. Immediately the music stops, the tone turns dark, and a gruff voice says, “you gonna pick that up?” the next…[Read more]

This image depicts the consequences of the American “tough on crime” mentality. The American flag imagery coupled with a play on the striped prison uniform with a ball and chain emphasizes the dehumanization of prisoners at the hands of the structural racism that is woven into the fabric of American institutions. Not only is mass incarceration a…[Read more]

This image shows data released by the FBI on people killed by the police by race. Here, it shows that although 13% of the U.S. population is black, 31% of people that are killed by the police are black. Take note that these statistics are from 2012 and not data from decades ago. This revelation that the police have killed a disproportionate amount…[Read more]

We’ve been talking about incarceration, specifically the mass incarceration of black men, as a form of racial segregation and oppression, and how incarceration can significantly diminish the future prospects of formerly incarcerated folks. I think we tend to focus more on the physical realities of incarceration and its effects than the trauma and…[Read more]

I chose this picture from the AP, taken by Gerald Herbert, which shows modern prison labor in Black and White. Instead of colorizing antique pictures to allow people to more closely identify and understand previous racial transgressions, this picture is one modern prison labor made it black and white. Because most pictures of “clear-cut racism”…[Read more]

most people know that white males are more likely to get a job, make more money than a black man with the same qualifications. however the reason I choose this photo is because according to the NAACP there is a higher chance for a white male felon to receive a call back for a job than that of a black man with the same qualifications without a…[Read more]

I chose this photo taken in 2017 from Eji.org, a website that actually discusses mass incarceration, children in prisons, and racial injustice. This photo depicts bunk beds lined right next to each other, and shows how cramped these prisoners are. There is barely any space to walk around, and people are practically sleeping an arm’s length away…[Read more]

For this week, I have chosen a photo by Erick Risberg in an article from eji.org of the living quarters of a private own prison. The article goes over two of the biggest private prisons companies income of 3 billion dollars from more then 120,000 people in their prisons given from the federal government. Also goes over the methodology of these…[Read more]

This photo is from an article that talks about mass incarceration. In this article, it explains that the ratio of three black men for every five black women in predominantly African-American neighborhoods, in comparison to 97 white men for every 100 white women. These statistics can be explained due to black men having higher mortality and…[Read more]

inmate photo: Tony Avelar, 2010

graduation photo: Mike Carriveau, 2017

I think two instances where we think of people lining up are at graduations or ceremonies and as prisoners. These situations are perhaps exactly the opposite because being incarcerated takes away most of one’s opportunities for careers, housing, and education.

This image comes from a New York Times article entitled “As Inmates, They Fight California’s Fires. As Ex-Convicts, Their Firefighting Prospects Wilt.” In the California Camp Fires of 2018, inmates were employed to put out the fires. These inmates were paid an average of $2 per day, while firefighters are paid $20+ per hour. This is only one exam…[Read more]

I found this distributing image earlier this week and it had me in shock. This is an image of Tallahassee Police arresting a man who was suspected of Theft, however, the arrested man’s two year old daughter walks toward the officer and her father with her hands up. This was extremely heart breaking and distributing to witness as the innocence of…[Read more]

In regards to this weeks theme about incarceration, I’ve found a image displaying facts about marijuana arrests among black, Hispanic, and white people. I believe that the true issue in influx of minorities being incarcerated lies not within the prisons themselves, but the courts. The war on drugs has turned from keeping a drug free society into a…[Read more]

This week we talked a lot about the problems within our prison system and the ineffectiveness of prison reform. One of the main things that we talked about was this concept of “out of sight, out of mind” where the prison system was structured so that it allowed for citizens to not think about prisoners or what they go through on a day to day basis…[Read more]

Photograph: Gerald Herbert, 2011.

https://eji.org/history-racial-injustice-prison-labor

This is a picture of prisoners returning from working in fields at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. This image demonstrates the themes about prison labor and exploitation that we’ve been discussing in class this week. Prisoners are exploited for their l…[Read more]

This week, I chose a cartoon that represents the revolving door nature of incarceration. Programming (education, job training, etc.) suffers a general lack of funding, structural support, and restrictions on inmates for participation which lead to high rates of recidivism within the United States. An estimated 83% of parolees reoffend within 9…[Read more]

For this weeks photo share, I decided to share the lyrics to one of Usher’s songs featuring Nas and Bibi Bourelly. I first heard the song in class when we were watching a part of the Netflix documentary “13th”. I went back to look for it and most times, people tend to listen to a rhythm or beat of a song and don’t pay much attention to the lyrics.…[Read more]

For this weeks topic for Mass incarceration and the making of a racial undercaste. Is the photo of a person who is protesting with the sign that says “Am I Next?” I believe that this photo shows that no one is safe from incarceration and the racial undercaste. It could be your turn when it comes to the incarceration and the racial undercaste, esp…[Read more]