Incarceration Nation: Drugs, Detention, and Discrimination

Socialism 2017

August 15, 2017

The "world’s greatest democracy" is also the world’s largest jailer—with more than 2 million people behind bars in the U.S. Large numbers are there for non-violent drug offenses, with people of color, especially young Black men, disproportionately locked up. This vast waste of resources and money punishes offenders long after they are released—creating a permanent underclass of people whose prospects for education, jobs, access to housing, and more are severely curtailed as a result. Lily Hughes, an long-time activist with the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, looks at the toll of America’s "War on Drugs" and what it will take to dismantle it.

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