Why Mass Incarceration Doesn't Work

Yesterday, Matt reported that state prison populations have decreased for the first time in 38 years. So should opponents of mass incarceration uncork the champagne and cheer the news?

Maybe we can take a quick celebratory swig, but let's not get carried away. The fact is that some of the downward trend has simply occurred because state governments are broke, and trying to cut costs by shrinking inflated prison rolls. Relying on continued economic misery to effect prison reform would be bad karma and bad strategy. Instead, activists need to dismantle the myths that really sustain mass incarceration.

Let's start with the the myth that prisons make us safer. The widespread and persistent belief in this myth is among the biggest hurdles confronting opponents of mass incarceration. People fear crime and violence and the idea of locking up "bad people" has primal appeal. More perniciously, it can't be denied that rates of violent crime are at an all-time low -- a fact that coincides with the all-time high of our prison population (2.4 million souls behind bars). Doesn't this correlation prove that mass incarceration has worked?

Not by a long shot.

Though it has some academic support, most professional criminologists reject the idea that over-incarceration is a major cause for a decrease in crime. Other factors -- such as an aging population, evolution of policing practices and even changes in the drug trade -- offer more likely explanations for the crime decrease. The correlation between crime rates and incarceration rates simply isn't convincing. What's more, counter-examples to the supposed correlation abound: just take a look at Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey or New York. All four of these states recently reported a simultaneous decrease in prison populations and crime rates.

This debate over crime rates in free society also obscures another reason why mass incarceration doesn't make people safer. Though the lack of public access (and scrutiny) means scant information, the reality is that violence bubbles over inside our prisons and jails. Such brutality and degradation can turn petty thieves and minor drug dealers into hardened criminals -- and yet such violence is even promoted at times by prison authorities. Every few years, for example, stories inevitably emerge of guards staging "gladiator fights" between inmates.

Accordingly, the horror of daily life within many prisons helps fuel a predictable and vicious cycle. We know how it goes: Some battle-scarred, recently released prisoner commits a heinous crime. Media outrage is followed by angry calls to lock up all the bad guys and throw away the keys. The real problem -- prisons and their production of violence -- gets labeled as the solution. And more people suffer as prison populations increase.

Activists need to anticipate this cycle and similar backlash if they really want to end the failed policy of mass incarceration. We need to press the argument that our collective safety can't be measured just by looking at crime rates outside of prison walls. What happens inside affects us all.

Photo Credit: empirical_perception