Incarceration means to be confined in prison. This is supposed to be one of our criminal justice systems ways of punishing those who have done wrong. However it doesn't always do this. Many mistakes and injustices happen in the criminal justice system. A known example of this is that people with more “black” features are more likely to be put on death row instead of those without. Mass incarceration is a huge problem in America because it has lasting effects on the people that go through it even if they dont deserve it .

One problem with mass incarceration is that it is how it impacts the future of those who go through it. In America being incarcerated basically means that your life is over. No jobs. No public housing. No food stamps or welfare. All because of what could have been a non violent crime that you didn't even commit. But that's not even the least of it. Getting loans is out of the picture. And parts of your civil rights can even be taken away. It's these consequences even after you have served your time that impact you the most. And unfortunately this means high suicide rates for those who got their lives taken away along with everything when the commited the crime.

Another huge problem with mass incarceration is the prisons themselves. America holds about 4% of the earth's population, but holds 25% of the world's incarcerated population. This makes us the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world. And still there are many things wrong with our prisons and our criminal justice system itself. An example of this how children as young as 13 have been sentenced to die in prison. This means that kids who might not have even known what they were doing can go to prison for the rest of their life. And yet it still gets worse. Solitary confinement is said to increase instability and violence in inmates, and is considered by international law as torture. But america still does this. It's things like this that can put people back in because they are caught in an endless loop with no way out.

Another essential problem to talk about when talking about mass incarceration is the people who get incarcerated. While only 13% of americans are black, 40% of the prison populations are. It's even known that Police arrest black Americans for drug crimes at twice the rate of whites, according to federal data, despite the fact that whites use drugs at comparable rates and sell drugs at comparable or even higher rates. So you may be asking yourself, what does this mean? This means that black americans have a much higher rate of incarceration then most others. This is an injustice to society. But what makes it even worse is how black citizens are excluded from juries in some places based on their race. Another example to prove things like this happen is how it is proved that Unsettling research into the psychology of courtroom decisions has shown that our personal backgrounds, unconscious biases about race, gender and appearance, and even the time of day play a more important role in outcomes than the actual law. And if we don't have a just criminal justice system then what do we have?

Now you may be wondering; “How are we going to fix this messed up system?”. And the answer is with time. But we can use every bit of power and help to fix this. But the first step is to try to help the felons. If you go to prison for drug addiction there's a chance that your prison will not have people or resources to help you with that problem. We have to at least try to help the felons because they shouldn't have their life taken away if its a small fixable problem. Next we have to try to make things in the criminal justice system racialy  just. This can be done by adding more people of color. This is probably the hardest step considering that racism still goes on in modern day society. Thanks to all of those who read this and I hope you spread word so we can finally fix mass incarceration.