Prison Incarceration: By the Numbers

Prison populations have been ever rising. Some have called certain time periods a 'prison boom'. The term, "Prison Industrial Complex"  is used because the number of people behind bars has continually increased at an alarming rate.  Could there also be a level of racism in our Judicial system that is contributing to the rise? At first, I didn't want to believe it, but after a quick look at the numbers, it seems plausible. While prisons are definitely necessary, if one looks critically enough, they can see there are certain troublesome trends.

The U.S. Department of Justice's Federal Bureau of Prisons website offers many interesting statistics to the public. Certain statistics include Inmate Breakdown, Sentence Imposed, Types of Offenses and Staff Breakdown. I found the most interesting information to be that of the Inmate Population: when classified by race, 129,682 (59.5 %) of the people behind bars in 2013 are Caucasian, while 80,811 (37.1 %) are African American. This is especially interesting because African Americans only make up about 13.1% of the population according to a 2012 US Census estimate. I wonder why these numbers are so drastically different. Also, when looking at the Staff Breakdown from the same site, it says that 63.7% of the workers are Caucasian. To me, it seems like slavery all over again in a sense: Caucasian people supervising the time of African Americans. While this is not as widespread as it was in the pre-Civil War American South, there is a slight stark comparison.

What do you think about prison incarcerations by the numbers? How do you think the trends of prison populations and staff will differ in the future?