One Nation, Behind Bars
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Almost 1.6 million adults are in prison in the U.S. — meaning about one in every 100 adults is behind bars, according to a recently published report from the Pew Center on the States. America incarcerates more adults than any other country in the world.
These numbers should be startling, yet not a surprise to the Cornell community. After all, this is not the first time this issue has been raised in these pages, in Cornell classrooms or within student organizations. This latest report, however, is further evidence that America’s incarceration rate is of extreme relevance to the entire Cornell community.
I discussed writing this column with a number of my friends, each from different communities at Cornell. Some were outraged by these numbers, others said they’ve heard the facts before and others were only mildly interested, as if the statistics were a dispatch from a distant country on the other side of the globe. But this is an issue that concerns each Cornell undergraduate and community member. High incarceration rates affect who we interact with on a daily basis and are revealing of our society’s values and character. In this way, we are all impacted by who is behind bars. But more so, the individuals who are imprisoned in America are products of our greater society, not of isolated communities. High imprisonment rates are the product of the causes of crime; these are causes that are perpetuated by the society Cornell is training us to lead.
And although many of Cornell’s students attempt to remain in the “Cornell bubble” throughout their time on the Hill, Ithaca’s locale begs more attention. Tompkins County is located in the center of the “Elmira Hub,” an area of Central New York home to five maximum and medium security correctional facilities. Corrections and prisons contribute significantly to the local economy. As participants in that economy, all members of the Cornell community are affected.
A Cornell education draws from many different realms, from the theoretical to the applied, and almost all of us leave college having learned that trends and phenomena are interrelated. It is difficult to consider the Pew Center’s statistic that one in nine black men ages 20-34 are behind bars without examining how that affects the workplace or even Cornell’s student body. This extremely high statistic means that in real terms there are less young black men present in the workforce and in higher education. For example, in 2007, Cornell’s black undergraduate enrollment was 712 out of 13,510 undergraduates, or 5.3 percent of the campus. (Specific numbers of black male students on campus were unavailable.) This is a number significantly below the national black population, which was 12.9 percent, according to the 2000 Census. Obviously this discrepancy is not a direct result of incarceration, but it bears notice.
The Pew Center report and its subsequent news coverage informs us of statistics but barely addresses the roots and causes of such high incarceration rates. Why is one in 355 white women ages 35-39 behind bars as compared to one in 100 black women of the same demographic? What can account for such discrepancies?
High imprisonment rates and their roots are issues that everyone, from all ends of the political and socioeconomic spectrum, has a responsibility to educate themselves about. Opportunities to receive such an education and awareness abound on Cornell’s campus. There are countless campus publications, including Voices magazine and the Cornell Progressive, which have addressed imprisonment rates. There are multiple educational opportunities (such as the popular Government 314: Prisons lecture taught by Prof. Mary Katzenstein) that examine American incarceration as a phenomenon whose understanding is integral to understanding American identity. There are also a wide variety of campus organizations that empower students to address incarceration differently — including Art Beyond Cornell, which brings art to the girls of the Lansing Residential Center as an expression of growth and hope; the Prison Activist Coalition, which is a political organization that believes in the prison-industrial complex and advocate for action; and Prof. Katzenstein’s teaching program at Auburn Correctional Facility, in which students can serve as teaching assistants. While considering these programs, it’s crucial to note that opportunities for learning and advocacy exist on all ends of the political spectrum and some remain depoliticized.
Many students commit their time and energy while on the Hill to learning and raising awareness in the Cornell community about America’s incarceration system. More of us, however, can and should learn about the causes and effects of America’s incarceration rates and carry those lessons with us into our future endeavors, bearing them in mind when we are the policymakers, business leaders and teachers of society.
You can begin (or continue) your education on America’s incarceration system tomorrow from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m., in Goldwin Smith Kaufman Auditorium at “Race to Incarcerate: A Lecture by Marc Mauer.” Mauer is an author whose work is assigned in Government 314 and executive director of the Sentencing Project. You may agree or disagree with his methods or arguments, but I urge you to attend this or similar events to find out. I look forward to seeing many of you there and continuing this discourse throughout the rest of the academic year.
Elana Beale is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be contacted at ebeale@cornellsun.com. Slope Song appears alternate Mondays.