Race to Incarcerate: A Graphic Retelling

GritTV and DocBonn

The number of persons in U.S. prisons is more than 2 million—roughly equal to the entire population of Houston, Texas. The massive U.S. prison population does not mirror the demographic profile of U.S. society, however. The vast majority of U.S. prisoners are poor, uneducated, unskilled, emotionally or psychologically troubled, drug and/or alcohol dependent, and either Black or Latino.

The racial disparity between prisoners and the general population is particularly profound.  Blacks and Latinos together comprise less than 30% of the general population but nearly 70% of the prison population!  How can this be?  Conventional–that is, uninformed–wisdom suggests the reason Blacks and Latinos represent the majority of the prison population is that they commit the majority of all crimes in the U.S.  That is simply not the case.  The reality is that Blacks and Latinos are differentially targeted and processed by the U.S. criminal justice system.

Consider these facts: Blacks alone make up 12% of the U.S. population and comprise 14% of all illegal drug users, but they represent 35% of all drug arrests, 55% of all convictions for drug crimes, and 75% of all those who go to prison for drug crimes!  Disturbingly, racial disparity in justice system processing exists for other crimes as well.  The startling statistics reveal that racially biased processing is common throughout the criminal justice system in the U.S.  Perhaps this should not be surprising, however.  After all, one must remember that the police, district attorneys and judges all have tremendous discretion in whom to arrest, prosecute and sentence.

Fourteen years ago, when prison activist Marc Mauer published "Race to Incarcerate" the US was still standing adamant in this shameful rank in the world. Now a graphic re-issue of what's become Mauer classic book comes as the conversation on criminal justice reform is heating up across the country. 

Voters last fall approved relaxing marijuana laws in two states. (See our conversation with filmmaker Eugene Jarecki about that.) Recently, decriminalization bills have been introduced in Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Vermont with more to come. Around the states, legislators are considering a slew of bills to reduce prison populations and over-incarceration. As the ACLU puts it: 

"While we may not see victories across the board on the bills currently moving though statehouses across the country, the clear message is that legislators are turning away from decades of cripplingly expensive and unjustly punitive incarceration policies and looking for alternatives."

 And at the federal level, last week, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced bipartisan legislation to allow judges greater flexibility in sentencing than they currently enjoy under mandatory minimum laws. Speaking on the Justice Safety Valve Act, Sen. Leahy said, “Our reliance on mandatory minimums has been a great mistake. I am not convinced it has reduced crime, but I am convinced it has imprisoned people, particularly non-violent offenders, for far longer than is just or beneficial. It is time for us to let judges go back to acting as judges and making decisions based on the individual facts before them. A one-size-fits-all approach to sentencing does not make us safer.”

The needle may finally be moving towards change. Mauer and graphic artist, Sabrina Jones hope their accessible book will help. Watch our conversation and buy copies for your library, school or college here.