Day of the Dead Prisoners 2012
Maricopa County Superior Courthouse, Phoenix , AZ
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Occupy the Prison-Industrial Complex
Thursday, 08 November 2012 09:11By Chip Gibbons, Truthout | Op-Ed
The
United States has just 5 percent of the world's population and over 20
percent of its prisoners. Since 1980 alone, America's prison population
has quadrupled. While this enormous prison population, as well as its
deep racial biases, should be of concern to anyone, prisons should be of
particular concern to the Occupy movement.
Since
Occupy first exploded onto the scene, many within the political
establishment and mainstream media have criticized occupiers
alternatively for a lack of demands and for embracing too many seemingly
unrelated demands. In spite of this confusion among those who are the
self-appointed gatekeepers of political discourse, most people have
understood Occupy as being a movement concerned with corporate influence
over government, economic inequality and the economic crisis at large.
It is precisely for those reasons that Occupy should be concerned about
America's penal population (which is not to say that many Occupy groups
and occupiers are not).
The
current regime of mass incarceration is very much tied to the emergence
of the neoliberal state in America. The neoliberal state demands
stability for the market, but ultimately generates instability with its
generation of surplus populations and lack of social resources. This
means that while neoliberalism seeks to limit state intervention in the
market and slash social welfare nets in the name of "freedom," it
inevitably results in increased coercion, militarization and
incarceration. And with its desire to subject every aspect of society to
the market, prisons become not just a necessity under neoliberalism,
but a profitable venture. These factors, not an epidemic of criminality,
are the chief causes of mass incarceration in America. Prisons are
therefore very much tied to the larger economic polices that Occupy
opposes.
Only
a small percentage of prisons are private, but the privatization of
prisons represents the worst of corporate profiteering from human
suffering. Stories about private prison companies influencing policy are
plentiful. A judge in Pennsylvania accepted bribes for sending juvenile
offenders to a for-profit prison. Corrections Corporation of America
(CCA) helped draft Arizona's draconian immigration law. Additionally, CCA recently sent a proposal to 48 governors offering to buy prisons as long as the states promised to keep them at 90 percent capacity for 20 years.
Many of the financial institutions that have already gathered the ire of Occupy are profiting from prisons. Wells Fargo,
which received $38 billion from the bank bailout, was also the
second-largest shareholder of GEO Group, a for-profit prison company, though its latest SEC filings show it recently dumped 75 percent of its GEO stock,
a move which occupiers and their allies consider a major victory as
they continue their efforts. In addition to investing in private
prisons, both Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch write prison construction
bonds.[1] Even when prisons are not private, Wall Street still finds a way to profit from them.
In
California, general obligation bonds which pledge the full faith of the
state and increase debt must be approved not only by the legislature,
but by popular referendum. While in the past, prison expansion had been
approved by the public, in the early 1980s, after lobbying from private
financial firms, the state legislature changed the status of prison
bonds to lease revenue bonds. Lease revenue bonds were previously
reserved only for education and allowed the state to borrow money with
the debt staying off the record, and thus, not subject to the ballot
initiative. Such bonds were also tax-exempt.[2]
Many Occupy activists have already started to make these connections. Both Occupy DC and Occupy Portland have targeted Wells Fargo over their investments in private prisons. Occupy Baltimore protested
the construction of a new youth jail. Additionally, a prison-focused
group, Occupy 4 Prisoners, has formed. What's important is not only that
Occupy embraces America's prison problem as a cause, but is clear in
linking it to its larger agenda of resisting unchecked corporate power
and structural economic problems.
Notes
CHIP GIBBONS
Chip
Gibbons is a progressive writer and activist whose writings can be
found on his blog, Exiting Emerald, and have been featured on
Counterpunch. He holds a bachelor of arts in political studies and
history from Bard College and is currently a JD candidate at American
University Washington College of Law.
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