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As we discussed when talking about individual solutions, getting involved with a Grassroots organization is often one of the best ways to support action against the massively powerful prison system. The Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons (FTP) is a grassroots organization worth noting. They, in conjunction with the Abolitionist Law Center, “conduct grassroots organizing, advocacy and direct action to challenge the prison system which is putting prisoners at risk of dangerous environmental conditions, as well as impacting surrounding communities and ecosystems by their construction and operation” (https://fight-toxic-prisons.org). Their mission is centered heavily on intersecting the prison abolition movement with the environmental justice movement in order to bring justice to the communities that are hit the hardest by both. Fight Toxic Prisons upholds several key partnerships and is organized in coalition with both national and local prison abolition organizations. 

FTP’s website is constantly being updated with relevant, informative blog posts, as well as action items that anyone can take. These actions include phone bank opportunities, text bank opportunities and reasons to contact local representatives. In addition to providing regular resources for individual action, Fight Toxic Prisons fosters a network of support for political prisoners arrested for retaliating against institutional corruption. As part of their website, the organization dedicates an entire page to profiles of incarcerated activists that includes their addresses, websites and directions on donating to each individual’s bail fund. They collaboratively work with other grassroots organizations like Earth First! Prisoner Support, Prison Ecology Project and Rising Tide North America to maintain this support network and to keep it current with up to date information and research. Another important piece of Fight Toxic Prisons’ work is their commitment to yearly convergences of all their partners. These convergences feature speakers, workshops, panels and discussions in order to create space for critical dialogue on anti-prison environmental work. The organization is committed to featuring the voices of those most impacted by the issues at hand.

 

By holding convergences, the The Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons showcases how they engage stakeholders from across the country. They commit to amplifying the experiences of former prisoners, family members and supporters of current prisoners specifically and intentionally. FTP is primarily funded by the Abolitionist Law Center, and earns additional money through fundraising.  

The limitations and barriers of this organization are likely related to reach and funding. Grassroots work means denying large donations that come from corporate interests, making it difficult for any small, community run organization to earn widespread recognition and adequate funding. That being said, creating a social media platform and finding ways to engage community members consistently can be challenging, particularly without the financial means to create permanent, paying positions. Overcoming these barriers is a long term effort. Building a movement from the grassroots means investing years in building a base of support committed enough to follow through with powerful actions and initiatives. It also means putting in the time and energy into forming a network, something that Fight Toxic Prisons is already doing. The larger a coalition they can build, the easier resource sharing and movement building will become. 

Though all types of solutions are needed to begin attacking a problem thoroughly, productive federal policy can really expedite progress on any issue. Passing policy on a federal level poses a daunting set of challenges due to both the structure and corruption of government. Corporate financial influence is rampant on both sides of the two-party system. Democrats claim to be the leaders of change and “progressive” policymaking, but the party fails to truly address and dismantle systemic inequities due to its own ties with big money and the constant rightward shift of electoral politics. It is the election of more and more true progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and more recently Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush, that I have higher hopes for a future with a Green New Deal and without prisons. 

Dismantling the problem of mass incarceration will require many years of work on the legislative level. I believe that in order to even begin addressing the larger problems at play with the prison system as a whole, we must first federally outlaw the use of privately owned prisons. Privately owned prisons create incentive to incarcerate. Companies profit off of selling their goods and services to private prisons– the more people in prison, the more money both the vendors and the prison itself have the potential to make. Additionally, large corporations can pay to employ prisoners at a fraction of the cost of labor elsewhere. This benefits corporate interests by maximizing profits, but only hurts prisoners barely making high enough wages to afford goods and services being sold to them at ridiculously high prices. The setup of private prisons incentivizes profit over people and encourages recidivism. 

In October 2019, California passed state level legislation that bans the operation of private prisons and privately run ICE detention centers in the state. The plan resolves that “California will phase out the use of these for-profit, private detention facilities by 2028” (1). This huge step towards liberation and safety of prisoners was (ironically) challenged by the Department of Justice. In January of 2020, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against the state of California, claiming that it outside their stately power to determine with whom the federal government contracts (2). For this very reason, I propose federal legislation declaring the phaseout of private prisons and ICE detention facilities by 2028. Private facilities should be purchased by the federal government and annexed as the responsibility of the government. In doing so, we will succeed in removing part of the corporate incentive to keep people incarcerated in large numbers. 

There will surely be stark opposition to this idea. The GOP will claim that discontinuing private prison operations will hurt the economy, particularly local economies where these prisons sit. While this may be true, there should be no price too high to save people from abuses, mistreatment and exploitation. A productive way to prevent massive losses to the job market is to funnel industry professionals from the prison industry to public-sector, green infrastructure work. Providing paid government work to those left jobless in this transition would provide necessary public transformation to combat the climate crisis and create a situation in which the economy is actually stimulated if the funding for this program could bring money from billionaires and the corporate sector back into small, community economies. 

An additional challenge of passing such a policy would be the corporate influence in government that I previously mentioned. Any politician with campaign finance investors or big donors with ties to the private prison industry will be pressured by their pocketbooks to oppose such legislation, or face risking the downfall of their political careers. Until significant campaign finance reform is passed, this will remain an issue for the passage of any progressive policy. I believe this sort of policy would be rallied behind by a large number of justice organizations with plenty of political power including Black Lives Matter, Movement for Black Lives, ACLU and NAACP. If enough momentum could be created amongst the people pushing for the passage of this legislation, there is potential for it, and any anti-prison legislation, to succeed.

Citations:

1) https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/12/politics/california-law-ban-private-for-profit-prisons/index.html

2) https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/12/politics/california-law-ban-private-for-profit-prisons/index.html

Act now:

• Make calls: Alert PA prisoners that they are eligible for stimulus checks
• Browse and sign petitions related to mass incarceration: 
  • https://www.change.org/t/mass-incarceration-en-us 
• Sentencing Project-  Actions to Get Involved in Criminal Justice Reform

Attend later: 

• Attend a #schoolsnotprisons event, RSVP here!

Donate to:

• #Fighttoxicprisons– ” FTP’s mission is to conduct grassroots organizing, advocacy and direct action to challenge the prison system which is putting prisoners at risk of dangerous environmental conditions, as well as impacting surrounding communities and ecosystems by their construction and operation” (https://fight-toxic-prisons.org) 
• Circle for Justice Innovations– “CJI’s mission is to end mass criminalization and incarceration by building and strengthening the infrastructure of the grassroots criminal justice movement to fundamentally transform the U.S. criminal legal system” (https://www.cjifund.org) 
• Vera Institute of Justice: Works “To drive change. To urgently build and improve justice systems that ensure fairness, promote safety, and strengthen communities…Vera is committed to securing equal justice, ending mass incarceration, [and] strengthening families and communities”  (https://www.vera.org)
• Schools Not Prisons: “A thriving online community dedicated to ending mass incarceration through the power of art, music, culture and activism.”(https://schoolsnotprisons.us) 

Follow on Twitter:

• @studyabolition
• @TDAbolitionist
• @Cjicircle
• @eji_org

Be a Conscious Consumer:

• 12 Major Corporations Benefiting from the Prison Industrial Complex

Mass incarceration is certainly a systemic problem that will require action on all levels to begin rectifying. People in the United States are jailed at the highest rate in the world, many serving unnecessarily long sentences or jailed for non-serious crime. Most frequently targeted are Black and Brown, low-income individuals (1) . Not only does incarcerating millions of people shatter communities, but it has been proven to have adverse impacts on health, wellness and post-prison life. Important to highlight among these impacts are the hazardous water, air and land conditions that prisons often face as a direct result of extractivism. The coal industry uses land and leaves it decimated, unusable and unwanted by nearly anyone but the federal and state prison system (2). The result is Black and Brown people once again existing on the front lines of the changing climate and the toxic byproducts of large-scale factory production. 

It may feel like one person alone could not possibly make a difference in combating a problem so large. The negative outcomes of mass incarceration are the result of federal and state legislation combined with years of institutionalized racism and an economy that focuses on extractivist growth rather than restoration and health. However, it’s important to remember that system-level challenges require solutions that combat the problem on all levels, including the level of the individual. In fact, in a consumer powered economy, our individual economic choices can sway corporations towards a desired outcome if effectively communicated and organized. For example, the recent boycotts of food corporation Chick-Fil-a led to the Christian, conservative company dropping its financial investments in notoriously anti-queer organizations(3).  Until we can ultimately crumble the economic power dynamics upheld by the infusion of capitalist politics with government, individual use of financial leverage is one of our most effective tools to combat the influence of harmful corporate interests. 

This approach could be one of the most effective ways to combat the abuses of mass incarceration on an individual level. In practice, this looks like becoming a conscious consumer- doing research on the companies you choose to patronize before spending money on their goods. It is generally good practice to be familiar with the labor practices and policies of companies you patronize, but particularly in this case, refusing to purchase from those that use prison labor can have an impact on the problem of mass incarceration. In this day and age, it’s pretty simple to do a quick google search to determine the ethics of the companies you plan to buy from. A non-exhaustive list of companies that are known to use prison labor can be found here, but more specifics will need to be personally researched. Generally, an economic boycott is most effective when done in conjunction with others, and is potentially not as impactful when done alone, but this is no reason not to partake. There can be difficulty in this task, however, as “major corporations also distance themselves from being implicated in prison labor by engaging in subcontracts with companies who then contract with the prison itself” (4). This just serves to remind us of the difficulty of ethical consumption under capitalism due to the network of abuse, damage and dark money. The most sustainable way to buy is local and community owned.  

Another action that can be taken on an individual level is writing and calling elected officials and institutional officials as directed by grassroots abolitionists. The needs of community organizers will vary by region, so it is important to act individually in accordance with the goals of those on the front lines of liberation work. This could look like making calls in support of certain policies, sending emails, tweets or letters calling out institutions, and a slew of other actions that can be taken on an individual level. If done correctly, the power of the individual to sway the opinions of those with power, particularly with personal storytelling, should not be dismissed . However, if this type of individual action is taken without doing adequate research about the asks of communities most affected by mass incarceration, your action could be more harmful than helpful. One of the best ways to be effective in this work is to follow local abolitionists and prisoners rights groups on social media to stay alert for action items. For example, the organization #Fighttoxicprisons regularly updates their website and twitter with action items like email banks and phone banks to partake in. It is important to not underestimate the impact that you as an individual can have on participation in grassroots initiatives. Every voice counts towards a liberated future! Check out the get involved tab to check out more ways to take action!

Works Cited

1)https://www.sentencingproject.org/

2) https://earthisland.org/journal/americas-toxic-prisons/

3)https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2019/11/18/chick-fil-a-drops-donations-that-angered-lgbt-groups-and-conservatives-cry-betrayal/

4) https://corpaccountabilitylab.org/

As previously established, mass incarceration is truly one of our generation’s most pronounced and systemic problems. The United States has the world’s highest rate of incarceration, as well as one of the world’s highest rates of recidivism. Beginning in the 1970s, the Republican party began to tout “tough on crime” rhetoric to entice voters. They commenced what is commonly known as the “War on Drugs” by passing legislation to buckle down on punishment for drug related offenses. Since then, U.S incarceration rates have skyrocketed. Currently, 2.2 million people in the United States of America are imprisoned, and this high level of incarceration is not distributed evenly across all communities. Black and Brown Americans are incarcerated at rates alarmingly higher than those of White Americans– the Sentencing Project reports that Hispanic Men are 2.7 times more likely to be incarcerated than White men, while Black men are a staggering 6 times more likely to be incarcerated than White men. 

Not only is the sheer number of incarcerated people a problem within itself, but the high volume of people living in prisons leads to a slew of other problems. These include maltreatment, abuse, chronic health issues, broken communities and an extremely high price tag for taxpayers. It must also be noted that many prisons are built on polluted and otherwise undesirable land, often leading to poor air quality and exposure of prisoners to toxins. While maltreatment and neglect are technically illegal, many government officials turn a blind eye to the ever worsening living conditions of prisons across the U.S in an effort to maintain “order”. 

The figure below displays what is described as a systems thinking approach to problem solving. This method involves considering broadly the ways that a specific problem impacts people and institutions through multiple lenses.

A systems thinking approach to this problem has helped me to do the vital work of connecting the dots between the different facets of sustainability and the problem of mass incarceration. As stated in the definition of sustainability presented in the last paper, there are three main components to sustainability- economic, social and environmental. Systems thinking particularly brought to the surface of my mind the economic connections between the problem and potential solutions. 

The economic sustainability of mass incarceration is clearly in violation of our definition of sustainability and the objectives of a sustainable future as established in essay one. Taxpayers spend around 80 billion dollars a year funding prisons while continuously seeing released prisoners returning to confinement at high rates. Economically, it is not to the benefit of the American people or the government to be spending such a large sum of money on incarcerating people in a clearly continuous cycle. That money could be better spent on programs that serve the greater good like education, meal security programs and healthcare costs to invest capital in care-centered, lasting change for communities. Communities with the highest rates of crime are often those with some of the highest rates of poverty. Crime stems from lack of resources and a person’s need to take care of themselves and their loved ones. Therefore, I conclude that alleviating need and resource scarcity in poor communities  will, in turn, reduce crime and punishment. Additionally, by releasing large volumes of prisoners incarcerated for nonviolent offenses and non-serious crime, we will seriously deter the economic strain of the current carceral system, leaving us funds to invest in improving restorative justice and rehabilitation programs for more serious offenders. 

It is important to note that releasing such a large number of people from being sustained by a system could create a variety of unintended consequences. Without providing released prisoners with vocational training, rehabilitation and other resources, many could easily end up homeless or jobless. An effort that is intended to be liberating could create even more of a lasting problem. To combat this consequence, I propose that all released prisoners be offered fair wage vocational positions in their communities including upgrading of safely placed prisons to safer, more care-centered spaces, demolition of prisons built on dangerous land, and other green infrastructure centered work. These positions must include an offer of healthcare and temporary housing. I would propose severe cuts to the military spending budget to provide the finances for these initiatives. This would cause a whole new set of stakeholders to be involved in this project including, but not limited to, the GOP, corporations and workers with ties to the military industrial complex and veterans. Stakeholders currently benefiting from positions at unsafely located prisons would also be affected and concerned about the proposed solutions. 

Crafting a care-centered response to this sustainability crisis is truly of high importance because of its nature as a racial justice issue. Black communities in the United States are more frequently in poverty and have a lack of resources as compared to White communities. The stakeholders in these communities would be crucial to involve in any conversations about how to best serve prisoners being released from incarceration as to avoid saviorism and to provide resources directly based on the requests of the communities most affected. The previously proposed solution would need to be proposed and revised by low-income communities of color to be considered a viable option moving forward. 

Systems approaches prove to us the ever-expansive nature of modern society’s problems. As I move forward with investigating mass incarceration further through the lens of sustainability, I fully expect to continue recognizing solutions, consequences and barriers to all of my proposed ideas.

Citations

1.  https://www.sentencingproject.org
2. 1

In the past 50 years, the United States of America has developed a crisis. Since 1974, the number of people incarcerated in the United States has risen from approximately 200,000 individuals to over 1.6 million individuals. Mass incarceration is defined as the “comparatively and historically extreme rates of imprisonment and…concentration of imprisonment among young, African American men living in neighborhoods of concentrated disadvantage” in the United States. Mass incarceration began in the early 1970s when “tough on crime” rhetoric became popular amongst right-wing politicians. The republican party spearheaded legislation to combat growing rates of crime in the United States that led to a nearly exponential increase in the amount of Americans incarcerated, with Black Americans being targeted and imprisoned at alarmingly higher rates than White Americans. These high rates of incarceration frequently subject hundreds of thousands of people to physical and mental abuse, poor living conditions, and economic exploitation. Upon release, those with criminal records are often discriminated against when applying for jobs, loans, and housing. Many end up returning to prison in a matter of years. 

 Awareness of mass incarceration as an issue of our time has been recently returned to the spotlight of popular media as the Black Lives Matter movement once again grows in popularity with the American public. The tragic and unethical murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and many others has spurred the American public to seek knowledge and education on racial justice issues such as police brutality and mass incarceration. Though in these teachings  it is not often framed as an issue of sustainability, mass incarceration is in direct conflict with the tenets of sustainability, and poses a significant challenge to a sustainable future for both people and the planet.

By the working definition of myself and my colleagues, something is sustainable if its initiatives, actions or impacts serve to meet the social and economic needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs through: reducing resource use, encouraging re-use, finding renewable alternatives and minimizing waste and pollution while protecting and restoring the health of natural systems and biodiversity, and addressing global climate change

1. equitable economic development that does not exploit humans.
2. an elevated and dignified standard of human well-being that ensures basic human rights and needs that include universal access to healthcare, food and water, housing, economic dignity, fair wages and safe working conditions

Best practices for meeting these objectives include an inclusive, transparent process that employs systems thinking; encourages individual action and innovation and assessment using measurable indicators. 

The principle of intersectionality in social justice work asserts that social justice issues are not individual problems to solve, but rather a network of connected problems fueled and upheld by the same systems of oppression. Environmental sustainability is a concept that has often been painted by corporate media to be purely an initiative to reduce consumption, eliminate excess waste and detoxify ecosystems. While all of these things are certainly facets of sustainability, they serve to distract from the broader scope of the challenges of sustainability that encompass the needs of the human beings and communities most affected by the disasters of the climate crisis and unsustainable practices. This approach neglects the intersections of sustainable initiatives with other social justice issues. It is here that we must begin our discussion of mass incarceration. 

The United States of America incarcerates more people than any other country in the world- both (per capita and in absolute numbers). In fact, almost one out of every hundred people living in the United States is either imprisoned or jailed. When we also consider the fact that Black Americans are incarcerated at a rate more than five times that of White Americans, we see that yet another key issue, racial justice, is at play here. Prisons are often built on overworked and otherwise undesirable land, leading to polluted, toxic water, poor air quality, and more vulnerability to climate induced natural disasters. This means that the effects of climate chaos that affect prisons are more strongly felt by Black communities than White ones. 

On top of this, it is abundantly clear that prisons are not setting incarcerated individuals up for success or rehabilitation. Approximately 650,000 people return to their communities from prison each year and about half of them return to prison within a few years⁴. It has also been found that almost 75% of formerly incarcerated people are unemployed a year after their release³. Prisons are doing nothing but harm for a large portion of those they house. These arguments are strong evidence that the system of mass incarceration is in direct conflict with our definition of sustainability. For this reason, I will be using this website to continue my exploration of the problem of mass incarceration within the context of sustainability. 

To begin exploring solutions to a problem so large, we must first identify any stakeholders. A stakeholder is any party with involvement or interest in a system. In the case of mass incarceration, there exist quite a few stakeholders. Prisoners and their families, law enforcement officers, private prison companies, crime victims and their families, local officials, state officials and federal officials would likely all be involved in a conversation about this issue. Additionally, any lobbyists or politicians that benefit or are harmed due to certain aspects of potential solutions would be involved as this exploration continues to unfold. This is, of course, only a starting point. As I continue my research and begin expanding upon individual facets of mass incarceration, I will delve deeper into stakeholder and systems approaches to sustainable problem solving. 

Citations

1. https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com
2. https://www.aclu.org
3. 2
4. https://www.prisonpolicy.org
5. https://www.sentencingproject.org