Why Mass Incarceration Matters to
Social Workers
or…
The Importance of Reckoning with the History of, and Wrestling with
the Present-Day Impact of, the Carceral State on the Ground and in the
Trenches
DR. HEATHER ANN THOMPSON
DEPARTMENT OF AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
Mass Incarceration
By 2008
 Number of Americans in prison: 2,424,279
 Number of Americans under some form of
correctional supervision: 7.3 million
 Number of Americans with a criminal record: 47
million…
 By 2011…roughly 65 million Americans have a record
Race Matters, 2004
Race Matters, 2008
Race and Gender Matter
Incarceration Rate/100,000
Today’s Criminal Justice System
 Does Mass Incarceration Matter?
Today’s Criminal Justice System
 Does Mass Incarceration Matter?
 YES
The Role of the Social Worker: Possibilities and
Responsibilities

Criminal justice social workers serve as frontline staff and administrators in criminal
justice settings. The criminal justice system encompasses a broad spectrum of public and
private agencies, and settings including (but not limited to):
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State and federal correctional facilities
City and county jails
Federal, state, and city parole and probation agencies
Federal, state, and local court systems (including drug courts and mental health
courts)
Community-based nonprofit agencies serving ex-offenders or reentrants
Faith-based agencies
Primary health and behavioral health care providers serving low-income people,
including ex-offenders
Roberts & Springer, 2007
Recommendations of the National Association of
Social Workers:
 Address issues surrounding and leading to disproportionate rates of
incarceration for individuals of racial or ethnic minorities, juveniles,
women and undocumented individuals.
 Increased participation of professional forensic social workers and
other mental health providers to assure culturally competent treatment
and intervention for the growing population of incarcerated
individuals, including mental health and substance abuse services.
 Assure safe, humane and equitable treatment for all incarcerated
individuals.
 Increase access to health care, educational and vocational opportunities
to assist incarcerated individuals with transitioning back to their
communities
The Role of the Social Worker?

The ethical challenge to social workers is to weigh the needs of the justice system against
those of the offender. The social worker should take on the challenge by participating in
legislative action to mold social policy to create a balance between the justice system and
the offender. Thus, the social worker can help the justice system provide more effective
services to the offender, their families, and their communities as professionals by
participating in the process of public policy development
Roberts & Springer, 2007

While offenders are under the supervision of the criminal justice system, a unique
opportunity exists to intervene in the offender’s lifestyle to reduce future criminal
behavior

Case management for criminal justice populations connects offenders with the specific
services and counseling they need to resist substance abuse relapse and to break the cycle
of criminal behavior
Kerry Murphy Heale, 1999
Understanding and Undoing the Carceral Crisis
 Mass Incarceration…the Big Picture
Understanding and Undoing the Carceral Crisis
 Why Carceral Crisis?
Origins
 The “Criminalization of Urban Space”
Mass Incarceration Matters: The Issue of Crime
Mass Incarceration Matters: The Issue of Crime
Mass Incarceration Matters: The Issue of Crime
LBJ and the Origins of the War on Crime
 Law Enforcement Assistance Act, 1965
 President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of
Justice, 1965
 District of Columbia Crime Bill, 1967
 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act, 1968
Mass Incarceration Matters: America’ Cities
Mass Incarceration Matters: America’s Schools
Mass Incarceration Matters: America’s Youth
2007:
6,568 arrests per 100,000
youths aged 10-17 in United
States
Mass Incarceration Matters: America’s Youth
Understanding and Undoing the Carceral Crisis
 The Impact of Carceral Crisis
Mass Incarceration Matters: America’s Communities
of Color
“Million Dollar Blocks”
Mass Incarceration Matters: the Orphaning of a
Generation(s)
2000:
1,498,800 children with at least one
parent in state or federal prison
2002:
1 in every 45 minor children with at
least one parent in state or federal
prison
2008:
1,706,600 children with at least one
parent in state or federal prison
(majority under age 10)
Mass Incarceration Matters
Jobs and Welfare…
Mass Incarceration Matters
 The Hidden Costs of Mass Incarceration
Mass Incarceration Matters
 The Undermining of the American Economy
(for those who work for a living…)
Mass Incarceration Matters: The American Economy
 Federal Prisons minor to major players in productive
labor and consumer labor market
 Example: recycling computers for various companies
Mass Incarceration Matters: The American Economy
 Increase in work done on site in state prisons by
existing state prison industries

Example: making lockers, cleaning chemicals, office furniture, etc.
Mass Incarceration Matters: The American Economy
 Explosion of brand new contracts between prisons
and private companies

Example: Dell, Victoria’s Secret, Starbucks, McDonalds, Eddie Bauer, etc.
Mass Incarceration Matters: The American Economy
 Brand new age of prison privatization for profit

Example: Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), Wackenhut, etc.
Mass Incarceration Matters: The American Economy
 By the close of the 20th century….
80,000 inmates holding “traditional jobs working for
government of private companies…”
Mass Incarceration Matters: The American Economy
“Our core business touches so many things—security,
medicine, education, food service, maintenance,
technology—that it presents a unique opportunity for
any number of vendors to do business with us”
--Irving Lingo, CFO, Corrections Corporation of America
Mass Incarceration Matters: The American Economy
 The Bigger Economic Picture
Mass Incarceration Matters
 Mass Incarceration and the Distortion of American
Democracy
Mass Incarceration Matters: The Distortion of American
Democracy
1974:
Richardson v. Ramirez
2006:
48 out of 50 states have a disfranchisement law on the books
Rethinking Region
States With Highest and Lowest Black-to-White Ratio
Incarceration
Highest
 Iowa 13.6
 Vermont 12.5
 New Jersey 12.4
 Connecticut 12.0
 Wisconsin 10.6
Lowest
 Hawaii 1.9
 Georgia 3.3
 Mississippi 3.5
 Alabama 3.5
 Arkansas 3.9
Mass Incarceration Matters: The Distortion of American
Democracy
Democracy?
Mass Incarceration Matters: The Rise of the Right in Postwar
America
The U.S. Census….
Mass Incarceration Matters: The Rise of the Right in Postwar
America
Lassen County, California
 25.49% census population is from
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non-voting prison population
Real population: 25,204/21,939
white
Considered a “red” (primarily
conservative republican) county.
Supported Reagan 1980
supported George W. Bush in the
previous two presidential elections
Los Angeles County
Mass Incarceration Matters: The Rise of the Right in Postwar
America
Distorting Democracy and Silencing Communities of
Color
So, Mass Incarceration matters….
Ending the Carceral Crisis
Lessons from the Past, Possibilities for the Future
 Education
 Advocacy and Agitation
 Resistance