"Prisons Make Us Safer": And 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration

by Victoria Law

Overview

An accessible guide for activists, educators, and all who are interested in understanding how the prison system oppresses communities and harms individuals.

The United States incarcerates more of its residents than any other nation. Though home to 5% of the global population, the United States has nearly 25% of the world’s prisoners—a total of over 2 million people. This number continues to steadily rise. Over the past 40 years, the number of people behind bars in the United States has increased by 500%.

Journalist Victoria Law explains how racism and social control were the catalysts for mass incarceration and have continued to be its driving force: from the post-Civil War laws that states passed to imprison former slaves, to the laws passed under the “War Against Drugs” campaign that disproportionately imprison Black people. She breaks down these complicated issues into four main parts:

   1. The rise and cause of mass incarceration
   2. Myths about prison
   3. Misconceptions about incarcerated people
   4. How to end mass incarceration

Through carefully conducted research and interviews with incarcerated people, Law identifies the 21 key myths that propel and maintain mass incarceration, including:

   • The system is broken and we simply need some reforms to fix it
   • Incarceration is necessary to keep our society safe
   • Prison is an effective way to get people into drug treatment
   • Private prison corporations drive mass incarceration

“Prisons Make Us Safer” is a necessary guide for all who are interested in learning about the cause and rise of mass incarceration and how we can dismantle it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807029527
Publisher:	Beacon Press
Publication date:	04/06/2021
Series:	Myths Made in America
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	381,725
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Victoria Law has been researching and writing about incarceration, gender, and resistance since 2000. She is the author of Resistance Behind Bars and the coauthor of Prison By Any Other Name. Law has written about prisons and other forms of confinement for outlets including the New York Times, The Nation, Wired, and Bloomberg Businessweek. She is a cofounder of Books Through Bars–NYC and the longtime editor of the zine Tenacious: Art and Writings by Women in Prison. Connect with her at victorialaw.net or on Twitter @LVikkiml.

Table of Contents

A Note on Language vii

Introduction 1

Part 1 What Drives the Mass Incarceration Boom? Myths about the Causes of Mass Incarceration

Chapter 1 The system of mass incarceration is flawed and not working as designed (or, A brief history). 9

Chapter 2 We need prisons to make us safer. 17

Chapter 3 Prisons are places of rehabilitation. 25

Chapter 4 Private prison corporations drive mass incarceration. 33

Chapter 5 Private corporations and profit from prison labor drive mass incarceration. 40

Chapter 6 Race has nothing to do with mass incarceration (or, If people of color are disproportionately incarcerated, it's because they commit more crimes). 49

Chapter 7 "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time." People need to take personal responsibility for their actions. 56

Part 2 The Myths of Prisons as Service Providers and Safety Nets

Chapter 8 Jails and prisons provide people with needed mental health care. 65

Chapter 9 People in prison "jump the line" for life-saving medical care. 74

Chapter 10 Incarceration is an effective way to get people into drug treatment. 83

Part 3 The Invisible People Behind the Walls

Chapter 11 Mass incarceration only affects Black cisgender men. 91

Chapter 12 Bringingup a history of abuse and violence is simply an "abuse excuse." 99

Chapter 13 Mass incarceration and immigrant detention are unrelated issues that can be addressed separately. 107

Part 4 How Do We End Mass Incarceration?

Chapter 14 Most people are in prison for nonviolent drug offenses. Let them out and we'll end mass incarceration. 117

Chapter 15 People in prison don't resist or organize against abusive conditions. 125

Chapter 16 Prisons keep us safe from murderers and rapists. 132

Chapter 17 Incarceration and sex offender registries are necessary to keep our children safe. 141

Chapter 18 The system is broken and we simply need some reforms to fix it. 149

Chapter 19 We should make our prisons more like those in Norway. 158

Chapter 20 Prisons are the only logical and evident way to address violent crime and meet the needs of victims. 165

Chapter 21 Even if societal and political conditions are to blame, there's nothing we can do about it. 173

For Further Reading 181

Acknowledgments 183

Notes 187

Index 218

Editorial Reviews

Convincing, creatively effective arguments for the dismantling of mass incarceration.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Law has offered us a very important tool. Her careful and accessible analysis, her feminist approach, and her methodical demystification of widely held views about incarceration enable precisely the kind of understanding we need at this moment.”
—Angela Y. Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita, University of California, Santa Cruz

“Law brilliantly uses facts, figures, and moving and enraging stories from incarcerated people to bring to light important and misunderstood facets of our singularly massive criminal legal system. . . . An essential book that demands attention and action.”
—Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison

“In this timely, powerfully persuasive, and relevant book, Law looks at some of the most damaging myths and misconceptions about mass incarceration. This is a must-read for those interested in the truth about mass incarceration and solutions to address it.”
—Talitha LeFlouria, author of Chained in Silence

“Think you haven’t fallen prey to the myths around mass incarceration? Think again. . . . This is the book we need, as movements sweep across the US challenging injustices in policing and incarceration, to show us our history, analyze our current policies, and chart the way forward.”
—Jeanne Theoharis, author of A More Beautiful and Terrible History

From the Publisher

07/02/2021

Prison abolitionist and journalist Law (Resistance Behind Bars) attempts to disprove common myths about incarceration in this brief, wide-ranging text. Dividing the work into four parts—the prison population boom, social services in prisons, overlooked groups (women and transgender people), and restorative and transformative justice—Law refutes a myth in each of 21 chapters; for instance, the claim that prisons provide much-needed health care services, and the claim that immigration detention is a separate issue from the mass incarceration debate. She makes a point to use the term "criminal legal system" rather than "criminal justice system" because, she notes, the system often fails to deliver justice for either offenders or victims. While writing this book, Law solicited feedback from incarcerated people, and she uses direct quotes from their correspondence as evidence for her arguments. She also includes a useful further reading section and comprehensive endnotes. However, chapters are short and lack depth; the chapter on murder and rape is the weakest. Problems are easily identified, but the book doesn't propose solutions, leaving readers to wonder how to move forward. It is questionable whether Law's strong point of view will appeal to readers who do not already share her beliefs. VERDICT While this book may be useful for academic libraries, public libraries are better served by other titles, such as Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow.—Jessica Hilburn, Benson Memorial Lib., Titusville, PA

Library Journal

2021-02-05
A critique of the many misconceptions about prisons in the U.S.

In her cogent analysis, journalist and criminal justice activist Law dissects the myths that blur what she asserts is the true reality about mass incarceration in the U.S. The author attributes the 500% prison population explosion in recent decades to tougher criminal policies and increased public demand for harsher sentences. In a four-part study, the author scrutinizes the numerous gray areas regarding incarceration, incorporating a wealth of supporting research, startling statistical data, and illuminating interviews and anecdotal material. Law digs into the shady practices of private prison corporations and thoroughly debunks the myth that incarceration delivers much-needed social and mental health services to inmates. In fact, she writes, incarceration pulls energy and resources away from underfunded social services. The author explores the history of prisons as a form of racialized social control and counters theories that they protect people from high rates of crime. She also contradicts falsehoods regarding the effectiveness of prison sentences for sex offenders and lays bare the inequity of treatment involving women, LGBTQ+ people, and those in immigrant detention, groups that are commonly omitted from broader discussions about incarceration. Law concludes with arguments for the abolition of prisons and the efficacy of restorative justice, “a process that centers on the victim and their needs, not only allowing them to have a voice in the proceedings but also addressing the needs that they have.” Though Law’s arguments are well-documented and persuasive, the most effective parts of the narrative are the personal stories of inmates struggling with a wide range of significant issues. The author also pitches ideas for resolving many of the conundrums she discusses, and her knowledgeable text presents a good opportunity for healthy, productive debate among proponents and dissenters alike.

Convincing, creatively effective arguments for the dismantling of mass incarceration.

Kirkus Reviews