War on Drugs, mass incarceration, and private prison profits

¶ … War on Drugs and Prison Overcrowding

The work of Byron Eugene Price entitled: "Merchandizing Prisoners" relates that the Justice Department in 1992 "under the watch of the Bush administration, released a position paper entitled 'The Case for More Incarceration' which argued that prison was cheaper than the alternatives, and violent crimes had been declining since the government began locking people up in prison." (2006) Due the expansion of state correctional budgets "...the efficacy of mandatory prison terms for drug offenders is being questioned." (Price, 2006) Presently, the United States "has the highest incarceration rate in the western world. It is four times that of the United Kingdom and France on a per capita basis."(Painter, 2006) in fact, "the number of people in prison, jail or on probation in the U.S. has increased threefold between 1980 and 2000, to more than six million and the number of people in prison increased from 319,598 to over two million by 2001." (Painter, 2006) the private prison corporations are "...a multibillion dollar industry" and as well "other companies reap hundred of millions of dollars annually by providing health care, phones, food, and other services for correctional facilities." (Painter, 2006) Painter states that the resistance "to rethinking the War on Drugs..." are contained within two primary factors: (1) money; and (2) jobs. Painter states that a state brochure on prisons in Florida states estimates that "a prison with 1158 beds is worth $25 million a year and 350 jobs to a community. Never mind that the drug laws there fill prisons with nonviolent offenders." (2006)

I. INCARCERATION RATES and COSTS in 16 SOUTHERN U.S. STATES

The Drug War has failed in reducing drug use which incidentally was the primary mission stated by proponents of the Drug War at its beginning. However, drug consumption has overall "...not demonstrably fallen...despite the increase in the number of drug arrests and convictions..." (Benson and Rasmussen, 1996) the work of Painter (2006) relates that the Fiscal Affairs and Government Operations Committee at the Southern Legislative Conference, Council of State Governments 2001 states that seven of the sixteen states in this conference have reported "an increase in incarcerations for drug offense while only three show a decrease in drug related incarcerations for drug offenses while only three show a decrease in drug related incarcerations." In fact, it is reported that eleven of the sixteen states in this conference "reported over 50% of the inmate population was black." Stated as cost per day for housing an inmate ranged from $27.50 in the state of Alabama to $63.35 in the state of North Carolina. (Painter, 2006) There has been a 210% increase in the incarceration rate in these 16 states since 1982 when the number of inmates was 168.378 until 2001 when the number of inmates incarcerated has risen to 523,683. Expenditures in these 16 states are stated to have increased by 121.95%.

III. OPTIONS DO EXIST

There are other and more viable options to the insanity of the War on Drugs and these options would begin with options in leadership choices and in choosing leaders with a 'vision' for the United States of America instead of merely attending to feeding a raging and growing beast of a prison system. A second option is to decriminalize certain drugs such as marijuana, which are shown by scientific findings to be less harmful than the already legalized substance of alcohol. The third option is accountability for all individuals with the necessary supports of rehabilitation, treatment, life-skills training instead of the ongoing perpetuation of poverty and drug addiction. Indeed, it is likely that the components of the third option would be costly but instead of merely feeding the hungry prison beast causing it to grow larger and more demanding the monetary cost for these components would serve to restore individuals to their rightful place in life's community, their own family, and eventually would come with ROI or that is; return on investment.