immiseration and prison planet 01:12

8/10/2019 Immiseration and Prison Planet 01:12

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Immiseration and The Economics of a Prison Planetby Elías Ortega-Aponte

Drew University Theological chool

The organi!ers of this symposi"m presented "s with three #"estions$

Each one demands a response that is faithf"l to theological visions that

s"stain and promote the common good% and therefore% are worth considering

with depth and care$ These #"estions as& "s to deliberate on '( )hen does

economic ine#"ality become sinf"l* +( ,ow can theological and biblical

so"rces help t"rn sinf"l economic practices toward the common good* (

)hat are possible ways of creating individ"al and comm"nity practices that

can confront the sin of ine#"ality and c"ltivate theological visions of the

common good* Of these provocative #"estions% I will engage the .rst at

some length and and t"rn to the third to ma&e a n"mber of proposals$ I will

do this from my location as a c"lt"ral sociologist of color with a deep interest

in "nderstanding how faith comm"nities mobili!ed the reso"rces available to

them to respond to challenges impacting their daily lives$

In giving my remar&s the title% /Immiseration and the Economics of a

Prison Planet%/ I aim call o"r attention to a topic of central to my thin&ing

abo"t economic ine#"ality0the mass-incarceration of comm"nities of color

and the ongoing immiseration it creates$ It is my position that o"r c"rrent

incarceration and p"nishment practices were designed% and contin"e to be

enforce% with the aim of harnessing economic and political power with the

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end goal of mobili!ing these reso"rces from comm"nities of color to

dominant sectors of society$ 4"rthermore% s"ch practices move away from

views of p"nishment as reformation to perspectives of containment$ This

being done thro"gh increased sec"riti!ation% harsher sentencing for crimes

dealt with di7erently in the past% li&e for e8ample% diversion programs%

ongoing s"rveillance and criminali!ation of minors% and all along cashing in

the pro.tability of the privati!ation of p"nishment$i 4inally% the fast-paced

prison b"ild"p necessary to ho"se the e8ponential growth of people in

con.nement is dramatically reshaping comm"nities and states ecology-both

the h"man ecology and nat"re9s landscape$ ii

As a c"lt"ral sociologist% I am interested in "nderstanding the social

processes that p"t in place% maintain% and reprod"ce macro and micro

str"ct"res of oppression$ This is to say% that from my perspective% I am

concerned with the interplay between society9s str"ct"res0forms of

government% economic practices% political processes% legal str"ct"res%

religio"s instit"tions% media representations% and how agents interact with

and are a7ected by these str"ct"res in their everyday practices$iii Of these

str"ct"res% those relating to prison% policing% and the ways in which they

enter national and global economic process militari!ing civilian life%

endangering notions of citi!enship% and the altering the ecological landscape

are of primary concern to my research agenda$iv

This is not only a local reality% b"t it is also gaining international dimensions

that mirroring o"r national scene$ At home and abroad% comm"nities of color

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.nd themselves as primary targets of police s"rveillance and imprisonment%

immigrant pop"lations are ro"tinely criminali!e and ro"nded "p for a pro.t%

p"blic f"nds for schools are diverted from ed"cational p"rposes to increased

sec"rity% social safety nets t"rn into sec"riti!ation traps% and .nally% the

"nleashing of terror regimes against women and girls$v In the face of these

realities% are notions of common goods feasible witho"t .rst addressing the

mass-imprisonment of comm"nities of color*vi )hether in their economic%

political% ed"cational% or life e8pectancy% the share on common goods for

comm"nities target by mass-incarceration are "nder threat: in fact% this has

always been the case in the United tates$vii

Altho"gh it may be tempting to consider the pro.tability of incarceration%

policing% and the violence they "nleash against comm"nities at the margin

as recent developments in this nation9s p"nishment practices% a deeper loo&

into the nation9s historical past reveals them to be in step with the nation9s

chattel slavery past and steaming from it$ )$E$;$ D" ;ois clearly e8posed the

interconnections between conceptions of crime% incarceration% and their role

in the economic sphere at vario"s points of his wor&$ <et "s consider one of

those instances here=

4or s"ch dealing with criminals% white or blac&% the o"th had no machinery% no

ade#"ate >ails or reformatories: its police system was arranged to deal with blac&salone% and tacitly ass"med that every white man was ipso facto a member of that

police$ Th"s grew "p a do"ble system of >"stice% which erred on the white side by

"nd"e leniency and the practical imm"nity of red-handed criminals% and erred on the

blac& side by "nd"e severity% in>"stice% and lac& of discrimination?the police system

of the o"th was originally designed to &eep trac& of all 2egroes% not simply of

criminals: and when the 2egroes were freed and the whole o"th was convinced of

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the impossibility of free 2egro labor% the .rst and almost "niversal device was to "se

the co"rts as a means of re-enslaving the blac&s$ It was not then a #"estion of crime%

b"t rather one of color% that settled a man@s conviction on almost any charge$viii

I see D" ;ois pointing o"t% among other things% '( that there is a direct

correlation between a gro"p9s racial categori!ation% their constr"ction as

potential criminals% and therefore% of a certain gro"p conceiving of itself as

responsible for the sec"rity of society$ +( teaming from these

concept"ali!ations% the activities of one gro"p are closely monitored for

deviances from socially constr"cted norms% while another en>oys latit"de of

action% often avoiding penalties for openly committed crimes$ After all% this

latter gro"p is responsible for designing% transmitting% and maintaining the

socially constr"cted norms that bene.ts them$ ( That the police% and by

e8tension prisons% where design as mechanisms to control the bodies of

people of color-not only beca"se of their constr"ction as criminals b"t also to

harness their labor: p"t di7erent% their constr"ction as criminals was directly

lin&ed to the desire to control their bodies and labor$i8 ( That legal systems

were designed to ens"re and maintain ongoing oppressive str"ct"res "nder

conceptions of legality and >"stice cemented in white s"premacy$8 4ollowing

D" ;ois% does not commit one to denying that there are acts that co"nt as

crime% and therefore% needing a societal response to address wrongs

committed% b"t it does highlight the societal constr"ction of categories of

crime% criminals% and the color of >"stice$8i

I won@t shy away from stating this forcef"lly% economic ine#"ality as it

manifest itself intentionally against people of color and concerted thro"gh




vario"s forms of str"ct"ral dynamics and micro and macro str"ct"res% of

which mass-imprisonment is a primary one% intends the immiseration of

comm"nities$ They are geared towards the creation% promotion% and

preservation of misery in certain comm"nities while transferring economic%

political% and h"man capital to others$ These are not random nor blind

processes% b"t concerted e7orts thro"gh policy% policing% and the shaping of

p"blic opinion to create a p"blic sphere in which certain lives represent a

threat to the established order and therefore need containment: and thro"gh

containment and harnessing of their labor they become pro.t-ma&ing tools$

It is here where I locate my answer to the .rst #"estion$ )hen does

economic ine#"ality becomes sinf"l* )hen it intentionally see&s the

immiseration of partic"lar comm"nities for a pro.t$ lowly and steadily% the

world economy is gearing "p to create a planetary prison$ It is "ndeniable

that the economic history of the United tates has pro.ted% contin"es to

pro.t% and for the foreseeable f"t"re will contin"e to be enriched by the

economi!ation of p"nishment practices and its e8porting of /this &nowledge/

to other parts of the world$

Economics may be de.ne in a myriad of ways$ ,owever one decides to

.nally approach the matter of de.ning economics one has to deal the nat"re

of e8change$ Economy has to do with e8changes-labor% services% goods%

privileges$ At the heart of two classics of sociological theory% Emile

D"r&heim9s Division of Labor in Society and 6eorg immel The Philosophy of

Money lays a similar concern= the potential for economic processes to

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drastically transform and disr"pt social life$8ii They were concerned that the

changes bro"ght abo"t by ind"striali!ation and the ongoing p"sh of

capitalism for greater rationali!ation and calc"lation in the social sphere

wo"ld disr"pt bonds of sociality% morality in partic"lar% by introd"cing

impersonal e8changes$ Th"s% they feared that abstractions and calc"lations

based on monetary e8changes wo"ld "ndo bonds of &inship% replacing

#"alitative "nderstanding of relations with #"antitative ones$ 4rom a

sociological perspective% I .nd D"r&heim and immel9s shared concern

helpf"l to e8plain sinf"l dimensions of economic ine#"alities$8iii

Another way to state my position is that economic ine#"alities are sinf"l

when the spec"lative process of e8change e8erts "nd"e inC"ence in the

social world$ As it connects to o"r c"rrent practices of mass-incarceration%

and their global e8tensions% we can see sinf"l economics at wor& in dynamics

in which practices of p"nishment and >"stice mechanisms are removed from

bonds of sociality and rob"st democratic political processes into the realm of

economic e8changes in which prison stoc&s% services% among others are part

of goods and services for trade$ In short% when the legal system% high>ac&ed

by white s"premacy ta&es a f"rther t"rn to establish economic pro.tability

thro"gh the immiseration of comm"nities of color$

Up to this point% I have engaged the .rst of the two #"estions I set o"t to

engage$ 3y engagement with the third #"estion ta&es the form a n"mber of

policy recommendations and the partic"lar wor& I thin& faith comm"nities

can do to engage the immiseration created by mass-incarceration$ I also ta&e




the opport"nity to note that n"mero"s faith comm"nities across the co"ntry

and the world are wor&ing towards engaging the problems raised by mass-

incarceration$

)hat 1an )e Do* ome 5ecommendations

'( 4aith comm"nities need to ma&e a concerted e7ort to increased their

comple8ity pertaining to how they "nderstand the intersection of mass-

incarceration with m"ltiple forms of oppression and the ways all

contrib"te to economic in>"stice$ This m"st go beyond the

disproportionate imprisonment of men of color$ "ch engagement missed

how the war on men of color has also "nleashed vir"lent femicidal

tendencies in the system as domestic violence protections are contin"ally

eroded and the victim blaming bac&lash is ending with more women and

girls in prison than men% proportionality spea&ing% all along being s"b>ect

to a myriad of ab"ses$$$ As a son% a spo"se% a parent% and a social >"stice

ed"cator of color

+( Invest in Ed"cation= As part of the theological vision of brea&ing the

chains of captivity% faith comm"nities need to get in the b"siness of

preventing captivity in the .rst place$ Prevention$ )e &now that the

investment for each child is ro"ghly B tho"sand dollars per year: the cost

of con.nement for >"veniles eclipse that$ Each year of con.nement for a

>"venile is "pwards to two h"ndred tho"sand dollars$

( Opposition to the ongoing privati!ation of prisons$ 4ol& &nowledge of the

privati!ation of prisons "s"ally does not e8tend more than the cost of




con.nement per each incarcerated person$ And as tro"bling as this may

be% and it is% this is b"t only a small fraction of the real economics of

con.nement$ Increasingly% the o7shoring of man"fact"ring to the e8terior

is ret"rning to be relocated in prisons$ )e need to &eep in mind that when

a person is incarcerated the typical citi!enship protections that apply to

those in the o"tside do not apply$ Ind"stries tap into this by "sing inmate

labor for man"fact"ring for as low as ++ cents per ho"r$ In prison yo"

have an aro"nd the cloc& labor force% no sic& days% no "nions% no bene.ts%

no holiday pay% no health ins"rance$ Pro.tability in a p"re form$ In

addition% more and more states are t"rning towards the practice of

charging inmates for their con.nement% either daily or monthly rates:

moreover% inmates .nd in sit"ations in which either they have to provide

their own toiletries or depend on relatives or charitable donations for

them$ o% an added p"nishment to those who are able to serve their

sentences and leave behind prisons wall% is a debt that they have to pay

to correctional facilities for their imprisonment$

( Abolitionist <ogic=

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Email them to <[email protected]> and to me

<[email protected]>

Participants will have access to them shortly thereafter.

All the best for the holidays!

Yours,

Kathryn Tanner

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i JOn the 5"n 4"gitive <ife in An American 1ity$ +'B: 5ios +'': 1lear n$d$(

ii J)eston +F(

iii Jcott% Kohn +'': 1harles +F: 4ine and 4ields +F(

iv J6oldberg and Evans +H: )ebb +: Enloe +: Eisenstein +(

v J3eloy and 3iller +'': 5ichie +'+: Lan2atta +': prott and Doob +H: Immarigeon and1ivic +(

vi ee J;eyond )alls and 1ages = Prisons% ;orders% and 6lobal 1risis +'+(% J6lobal <oc&down=5ace% 6ender% and the Prison-ind"strial 1omple8 +B( and olomon 3onroe% Mt"dy hows harp5ise in <atino 4ederal 1onvicts%N http=www$nytimes$com+H+'H"s'Himmig$html*rQ JAccessed Dec$+'% +'($

vii J1lear +: )estern and Pettit +'(

viii JD" ;ois +'(1hapter H$

i J3"hammad +'(

J,allett +H: Thompson +'% +'': <ichtenstein 'HH: Dayan +''(

i J)al&er% pohn and De<one +'+% 1hapter B(

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/us/19immig.html?_r=0





ii JD"r&heim 'HH: immel +B(

iii 3y "nderstanding of economic ine#"ality as sinf"l also owes m"ch to the wor& of 1ynthia D$3oe-<obeda in J3oe-<obeda +'(

immiseration and prison planet 01:12

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