Criminal InJustice: The Humanity of Prisoners

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† Criminal InJustice is a weekly series devoted to taking action against inequities in the U.S. criminal justice system. Nancy A. Heitzeg, Professor of Sociology and Race/Ethnicity, is the Editor of CI. Kay Whitlock, co-author of Queer (In)Justice and Considering Hate, is contributing editor of CI. Criminal Injustice is published every Wednesday at 6 pm CST.

The Humanity of Prisoners
from the Editors

Two new reports, different in approach and from different sources, emphasize the humanity of prisoners forced to exist within the brutal and inhumane confines of federal, state, and local prisons and jails. One places the voices of incarcerated LGBTQ people at the center. The other draws on and analyzes existing research that describes the situation for state prisoners in general. Both reports put forward recommendations for change. We urge you to read and share them. Both contain information you need to know – about prisoners and about the imperatives of the prison industrial complex.

Criminal Injustice is frankly abolitionist in its perspectives and politics. We do not endorse reforms that reify prisons and the idea that policing and imprisonment are essential to the creation of public safety. Such reforms are widespread today, under the rubric of “bipartisan criminal justice reform.” But we do support changes that help make life a bit more tolerable and conditions more humane for people who are incarcerated. Such reforms are not the end goal of our work, and we hope not of yours. We support such changes within a broader strategic framework that includes dismantling/transforming structural forms of racism, gender violence, economic violence, and disability-related violence. What will replace structures of violence? That is a subject CI periodically explores, through highlighting transformative justice work where it exists, and utilizing radical imagination to, as Angela Y. Davis says, can take us to “new terrains of justice.” These are questions we all should be thinking and talking about.

Here are the reports:

Coming Out of Concrete Closets: A Report on Black & Pink’s National LGBTQ Prisoner Survey

unnamedFrom Black & Pink: “During the latter months of 2014, Black & Pink, conducted a survey of our prisoner membership. Nearly 1,200 prisoners responded to our 133-question survey, producing the largest ever dataset available on the experiences of LGBTQ prisoners in the country. The intent of this survey was to get some truth out from behind prison walls about the experiences of LBGTQ prisoners in the United States. Our report aims to share that truth by elevating prisoner voices, stories, and leadership to inspire immediate collective action.” [Ed. Note: Black & Pink is an abolitionist organization.]

“To increase the power of prisoners we need greater access to the political process. We need real access to real people in real power who will actively hear us and help us, not just give us lip service, come sit and talk with me, help me take my dreams and present them to the people who can turn them into a reality, I am not persona non grata, hear me, don’t patronize me just to keep me quiet, understand that I’m very capable of helping in this fight.” Black and Pink survey respondent

Download the full report and the executive summary and recommendations.

Separation by Bars and Miles: Visitation in State Prisons

unnamed.2jpgFrom Prison Policy Initiative: “Almost by definition, incarceration separates individuals from their families, but for decades this country has also placed unnecessary burdens on the family members left behind. Certainly in practice and perhaps by design, prisons are lonely places. Analyzing little-used government data, we find that visits are the exception rather than the rule. Less than a third of people in state prisons receive a visit from a loved one in a typical month.”

“Studies have consistently found that prisoners who maintain close contact with their family members while incarcerated have better post-release outcomes and lower recidivism rates.

These findings represent a body of research stretching back over 40 years. ” – Prison Legal News

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  • JessicaSlagle

    It is very unfortunate to learn about how prisoners are treated while in prison. A sad but true word to describe it would be inhumane. I recently wrote a paper about the LGBTQ and prison, and reading some of the stories that inmates experienced was absolutely atrocious. Things happened to these individuals that no one should ever have to endure as a human being. The way that prisoners are treated is so dehumanizing and degrading, I am interested in learning more about the issue (interested in the books posted!) and hope for positive change in this aspect of our society.

  • NaomiWolff

    As I continue to take sociology courses and read articles, books and other sociological works in my own time, the more I am coming to realize that the prison industrial complex, the humans who are caught up in the system and the human rights violations that are intrinsic to the PIC are where my sociological passions lie. Prisoners are rendered voiceless, enslaved, and stripped of their humanity. In stripping prisoners of their humanity, outsiders are better able to forget about them, to go about their lives believing that the prisoners (fellow humans!) do not matter. Additionally, the LGBTQ+ community in relation to the prison industrial complex is not a topic that I have yet explored or really considered. Thank you for these further reads!

  • KayWhitlock

    If we acknowledge the humanity of prisoners, it becomes impossible to support the prison as a social structure of any sort, much less a structure of justice. Thanks to Black & Pink and to Prison Policy Initiative.

  • Unicorn graphic from Black and Pink

    Gratitude to all