7 Reasons Black Men Continue to get Locked Up
According
to Bureau of Justice statistics, 12 percent of black men in their late
twenties were in prison or in jail during 2005. Of that 12 percent,
many were on their second stint behind bars. A whopping 25 percent of
inmates released are re-incarcerated within three years. That number
rises to more than 50 percent when probation and parole violations are
included (Ready 4 Work in Brief, Interim Outcomes are In; Recidivism at half the National Average by Chelsea Farley and Sandra Hackman, September 2006). What causes this high rate of recidivism?
1. Poor education and lack of marketable skills.
2. Inadequate or no substance abuse treatment while incarcerated.
3. Inadequate mental health treatment while incarcerated.
4. Little familial or community support.
5.
Difficulty securing steady employment. E. Kane’s in his study, “White
Ex-Cons Get Jobs Blacks Can’t” (FOCUD, May/June 2004) states, “Upon
release from prison, whites with criminal records are more likely to be
hired than blacks with similar education and experience who have no
criminal record at all.”
6. Black
ex-prisoners are more likely to return to poor neighborhoods with few
support resources to assist them with reintegrating into society.
7.
The denial of basic citizen’s rights and services like public benefits,
fair housing, and even the right to vote contributes to a feeling of
helplessness and hopelessness.
Clearly,
racism is a factor in black men experiencing difficulty in rejoining
society once their sentences have been completed. Everyone is complicit
in this process and it’s important to work to ensure that black men can
overcome the unfairness of the incarceration process and become
productive members of society. –forrest green III
