Breaking the wheel of despair
A profit driven system, built and on racism, corruption and greed.
Would you look at that? It is the last Sunday in this long, LONG month of September. For the past two weeks, I was stumped on what exactly I wanted to write about. I mean, I do have a calendar of planned topics, but those topics are for certain times of the year. I was stumped, truly, until there was yet another school shooting in Georgia, and the state of Missouri; its Governor, Mike Parson, and Attorney General, Andrew Bailey; made headlines for sentencing and putting an innocent Black man, Marcellus Williams, to death. So this got me thinking, got my wheels spinning on the connection between the two. Did you know that there are nearly 2 million prisoners in the United States? And that a majority of the prisoner population is disproportionately Black men?
Angola, have you heard of it? Well, if you’re from where I’m from, then you probably have. If you’ve ever been involved in the murky, tangled world of corrections, then you absolutely have. You like rodeos? Then I know you have. Angola, most notably known as Louisiana State Penitentiary, is not only one of the biggest employers in the state of Louisiana but is also the largest maximum-security facility in the United States. Angola is as well known as LSU in Louisiana; that’s not opinion, that’s just facts. Although I wish it were for the rodeo that is put on by the prison twice a year, unfortunately, that’s not the case.
No, I’ve never been to prison, but Louisiana State Penitentiary was occasionally relevant in my life as a child. I’ve had family members work there, as well as family members who are locked up to this day. Before it became a prison, Angola was a plantation. Named after the region in Africa where many of its enslaved workers were brought from, it was built on forced labor, violence, and exploitation. And here’s the thing: in many ways, Angola hasn’t changed. Today, the prison sits on 18,000 acres of farmland, and inmates; mostly Black men, many serving life sentences; work the fields for pennies an hour. Now, what does that sound like to you? Because to me, it sounds like slavery (looking at you, 13th Amendment).
When you hear “industrial prison complex,” what folks are really talking about is a system that makes money by keeping people locked up. The U.S. incarcerates more people than any other country, and it’s not just about crime; it’s about dollars. A lot of people are getting rich off this system, from private companies to the government, and they’re not in a rush to fix it.
At its core, this system has turned incarceration into a commodity. Private companies are getting rich by building prisons, providing services (often at bare-bones quality), and even using prisoners as cheap labor. Here’s the kicker: many of these companies lobby for harsher sentencing laws because, for them, a full prison equals a full bank account. It’s a system built on keeping people locked up, and unsurprisingly, it’s people of color and low-income communities who bear the brunt of it. In short, it’s modern-day slavery. This system doesn’t just thrive on incarceration; it depends on it. And who does this system affect the most? Folks who are already struggling: Black people, poor people, people who don’t have the resources to fight back. It’s modern-day slavery, plain and simple.
Now, of course, a system that was built off of racism, corruption, and greed doesn’t only affect adults; it absolutely affects the babies. The expression “school-to-prison pipeline” describes how certain school policies set kids up (usually Black and poor children) to end up in the criminal justice system. Imagine an entire system built on policing and targeting Black children, so much so that school shooters, who are overwhelmingly white men, can just casually stroll into a supposedly safe space for children, cause chaos, and take innocent lives. Can somebody make it make sense?!
In a lot of underfunded schools (another symptom of racism) across America, especially in Black communities, discipline is the focus. Predominantly Black schools have over-policing, like security guards and metal detectors. Kids are getting suspended for minor things, like talking back, or even arrested for something as small as getting into a fight. Instead of helping these kids, the system criminalizes them on purpose. And once they get pulled into the justice system, it’s hard to get out.
When schools start treating young people like criminals, they’re more likely to end up in prison later on. It’s a sad, vicious cycle that cuts off opportunities before kids even have a chance. You see it most in schools where resources are thin, and instead of counselors, there are cops in the hallways. Imagine being a 14-year-old who gets suspended or expelled, and the next thing you know, you’re caught up in the legal system. It’s not right, but it’s happening, so what are we going to do to change that? The justice system that Americans are virtually bound to is a beast of a system and needs to be dismantled and reassembled expeditiously. I’m gonna go now, suge, but here’s some food for thought:
The industrial prison complex is not untouchable. The school-to-prison pipeline is something we can address by investing in our babies and giving them the support they need. The private prison system? It needs to go. Period. No one should be making money off locking people up. It’s not just about reforming the system; it’s about understanding how deep the roots of exploitation go in this country. But that’s something we can change. It starts with talking about it, learning about it, and then taking action to make sure we’re building a more just and fair system. Are you ready to be the change?