Cammarota 1

Nicole Cammarota
November 9, 2014
Barrett Katuna
Land of the Free and the Home of the Incarcerated: The Affect of Race, Class, Gender,
and Sexuality in the Unites States Penal System

Cammarota 2
Introduction
According to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP, 2009), the US currently has 1 in every 31 adults either in federal prisons, local
jails, or under parole/probation supervision. These people make up 5% of the worlds
population of prisoners. In this institution, there are many forms of inequality present that
are causes by intersectionality. Intersectionality is the idea that race, class, gender, and
sexuality tie into oppression and discrimination . In the penal system, there are many
ways intersectionality affects the inmates in prisons and jails . First, I will look at the
amount of people incarcerated based on race, and how that also links in to incarceration
and social class, as there is a noticeable difference between the amount of prisoners who
are white compared to those who are African American . Then, I will look at how gender
impacts incarceration rates. Based on this information, I have come to find many
inequalities in the United States penal system. The objective of this paper is to look at
how each different aspect of intersectionality is present in and affects the current United
States penal system.
Incarceration and Intersectionality
Incarceration rates in the United States have quadrupled from about 500,000 to
2.3 million people from 1980 to 2008 (NAACP, 2009). Not only can one see the
difference between men of color and white men, but also when looked into further, it can
be seen that the social class of these men affects their chances of being incarcerated .
There is also an extremely large difference between the amount of men and women who

Cammarota 3
are currently incarcerated in the United States . Each aspect of intersectionality will be
looked into further.
Race and Class
Currently in the United States, race of incarcerated citizens make the United
States penal system seem discriminatory. According to the NAACP, African Americans
make up 1 million of the 2.3 million incarcerated population of the United States and
they found that African Americans are incarcerated about six times more than white
Americans (2009). This statistic is dated, but still holds true in todays world. In 1989 ,
only 2% of white men in their 30s had ever been to prison compared to African
American men of the same age , where 13% of them had ever been to prison . By 1999,
these rates had increased by 50%. These statistics become problematic, as the prison
system is racially disproportionate. Based on information from the Bureau of Justice
Statistics, In 2011, blacks and Hispanics were imprisoned at higher rate than white in all
age groups for both male and female inmate (Karlin, 2013) . This source also stated that
African American male prisoners between the ages of 18 and 19 were imprisoned over
nine times more than that of white males . In regards to women of color in the United
States, African American women are over twice as likely to become incarcerated as
Hispanic women and over four times as likely compared to white women (Winddance
Twine, 2008). These statistics are seen as racially disproportionate which is explained in
the literature by Pettit that displays the correlation between lack of an education and
being involved in illegal activites(Pettit, Western, 2004).

Cammarota 4
This idea is related to social class, as the risk of going to jail increases 3 fold for
those high school dropouts (Western and Pettit, 2002). However, inequality is still
disguised in the penal system, as these statistics do not include poor men that are behind
bars, as including these prisoners would show a higher rate of racial inequality. Until the
20th century, the imprisonment policies did not affect social in equality as much , as the
inmate population was small. In the 1970s, law enforcement became stricter and
imprisonment became more of a popular occurrence for poor minority males . Currently,
the incarceration rate is five times the historical average from 1925 to 1975 and six to
eight of that of Western European countries . However, these numbers mask the
imprisonment rates of young black men with little schooling . Although there have not
been official statistics, researchers Bruce Western and Becky Pettit have calculated the
proportion of African American vs. white men at different ages and education levels .
They found that incarceration rates among working men in their 20s between 1980 and
1999 doubled, which seems like a large increase, but that of high school dropouts tripled.
In 1999, Western and Pettit also found that less than 1% of working white men were
behind bars, while 7.5% of working black men were behind bars. In regards to unskilled
high school dropouts, 41% of African American men between the ages of 22 and 30 were
in jail by the middle of 1999. Not only are there racial disparities in incarceration rates of
men on any given day, but there also is a large gap in incarceration rates of men who
have ever been in prison in their lifetime . By the end of the 1990s, 14% of white male
high school dropouts in their 30s had prison records, compared to 59% of African

Cammarota 5
Americans of the same criteria. According to Saki Knafo of the Huffington Post , one in
every three black males, one in every six Latino males , and one in every 17 white males
born in the current day and age is expected to end up in prison at some point in their life
(Knafo, 2013).
Based on these statistics, it is evident that the United States penal system
exemplifies racial and class inequalities. According to Beyond Crime and Punishment:
Prisons and Inequality, a piece by Western and Pettit, they believe there are two
explanations as to why these inequalities exist. One is that young male dropouts are more
likely to commit crimes and subsequently be arrested for them, and are more likely being
put in prisons where in previous year would have been simply reprimanded . These men
will have the largest impact on the disproportionality. Secondly, they mention that legal
scholars saw that policies were changed in a way that increased the negative affects on
young minority men with little schooling (Western and Pettit, 2002) . This essentially
means that when the government amended rules regarding imprisonment, they changed
them in a way that those who had little or no schooling were put at a higher risk for
incarceration. This can be seen with the anti-drug policy, as studied by Michael Tonry.
He saw that crimes like busting drug dealers , mass arrests in inner cities , and penalties
for drugs like crack cocaine affected an extremely high amount of minority men . These
offenses, and others that were a part of the war on drugs target disadvantaged minorities
yet neglected to focus on those crimes in the suburbs where middle-class , educated
whites were located (Western and Pettit, 2002). Along with this, social class also affected

Cammarota 6
race in other ways. For example, young, low-educated, African American men with slim
economic opportunities living in turbulent conditions can lead these individuals to more
crime (Western and Pettit, 2004). In addition, as there are more crimes occurring in these
underprivileged areas, authorities tend to focus and detain those in the same or closely
surrounding areas. In other words, as they see more crime in certain areas, they tend to
keep watch of those areas more carefully, as they believe more crime will come out of
these areas than others. A way to address this problem is to require high school students
of low-income areas to work when they enter high school. That way, if they do decide to
drop out of high school, they will still be employed and therefore have less time to
potentially commit crimes. They also will have some form of income and work
experience, which can allow them to help their families out of these lower income areas ,
and allow them to potentially have a better job in the future.
Gender and Sexuality
Along with race and class, the United States penal system also shows gender and
sexuality disparities. Although our book states that 92% of inmates are male , showing a
drastic difference in male vs. female inmates, there is also discrimination of those
females who become inmates. The number of incarcerated women has grown 4 .6% each
year, from 1995 to 2005, with one million women currently serving time in the United
States penal system. In the last three decades, that number has increased 800%. This is
the highest amount imprisoned women out of any country in the world , yet most of these
women have been imprisoned for low-level crimes caused by poverty and addiction,

Cammarota 7
while the amount of men in prisons has only increased half that amount in the same time
period (Walshe, 2014). Although the Netflix series Orange is the New Black is meant
for reality, the experiences that the women of the show go through are not far off from
what women in actual United States prisons experience . According to France Winddance
Twine, Penal institutions are being used by local governments and states to
systematically punish indigenous women, women of color, immigrants, poor women, and
unruly girls and women (Twine, 2008 pp. 95). He says that in doing this, the United
States can generate profits due to the higher incarceration rates , thus expanding the prison
system. In agreement, Sadhbh Walshe of The Guardian , says that prison is the best
available option for women who commit crimes like robberies or forgery . However,
Walshe sees these practices as more detrimental to these women , as 57% have a history
of sexual or physical abuse, 64% are high school dropouts and 74% use drugs regularly ,
which puts these women at a 16 times higher risk of becoming mentally ill (2014).
Not only is there a prominent gender disparity in the penal system , but there are
also discriminations based on sexuality. Twine explains how one feminist researcher,
Bernardine Dohrn, looks at how homosexual women in U .S. detention experience
discrimination. She says that these women experience, violent attacks, such as
isolation, that are only recently being documented whether these women are lesbian ,
bisexual, transgender, or even questioning their sexuality. These women also experience
these kinds of discrimination before they even enter the penal system (Twine, 2008 pp.
95). Another researcher, Beth Ritchie mentions how gender and sexuality are usually

Cammarota 8
ignored all together, therefore making the discrimination towards these women almost
invisible. Similar to men of color , these incarcerated women are usually women of color
who come from poor, undereducated places where there is unaffordable or unsafe
housing. Along with that, many are deeply involved with drugs and violence , which stays
present during their time of incarceration . According to Arch Sex Behav study, the
findings show that there is a high rate of dysfunctional sexual relations of female inmates
in the United States. Specifically, 64% of women who reported having same-sex relations
in prison said that they had been in same-sex relationships before incarceration (Baltieri,
2014).
In order to critique this, the Womens Prison Association (WPA) has created an
alternate form of incarceration called the Justice Home. In this facility, the WPA tries
to find the deeper reasons that led these women to commit their crimes . A Justice Home
seems to be a better place to send women who commit crimes to , as it will not only help
the WPA see the reasons why they are committing the crimes , but also will help the
women themselves truly see why they are doing wrong , which can prevent them from
doing the same thing in the future (Walshe, 2014) . As mentioned previously, the vicious
behavior of incarcerated women carried with them when put into prisons , which logically
means it will carry with the still when they are released . The Justice Home allows them to
recognize and address their problems to prevent them in the future. This facility will
prevent women who have been incarcerated from going back to prisons , and will in turn
lower the rate of incarcerated women in the United States.

Cammarota 9
Conclusion
Oppression and discrimination due to race, class, gender, and sexuality is avidly
present in the United States penal system. African American men and women and well as
Hispanics/Latinos are at higher risk of being incarcerated, which can be a result of their
social class. Those who are of a lower social class may have been incarcerated due to
their lack of high school education (being a drop out) , which would put them at a higher
risk for crime and therefore incarceration. There are also gender disparities in the penal
system, as more men are incarcerated than women . However, the number of women
being incarcerated has increased drastically in recent years . Finally, inmates are
discriminated based on their sexuality, as homosexual women experience violence geared
towards them based on their sexuality. Overall, the institution of the penal system in the
United States seems to be unjust, as there are inequalities based on intersectionality.
However, if students in low income areas are required to have a job when entering high
school, this will allow less time for illegal activity and potential for a better job
opportunity in the future. Also, if more facilities like Justice Homes are made for people
of color or people of underprivileged cities , the incarceration rate can potentially stay
stable or even be lowered in the near future.

Works Cited

Cammarota 10
Baltieri, D. (2014). Psychosocial Pathways to Sexual Dysfunction Among Female Inmates.
Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43(6), 1105-1114. Retrieved November 4, 2014, from
Springer Link.

Criminal Justice Fact Sheet. (2009, January 1). Retrieved November 10, 2014, from
http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet
Karlin, M. (2013, April 3). The Vast Majority of People in US Prisons Shouldn't Be
There, Period, But They Are Profitable Chattel. Retrieved October 27, 2014,
from http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/the-vast-majority-of-people-inus-prisons-shouldn-t-be-there-period-but-they-are-profitable-chattel/17895-thevast-majority-of-people-in-us-prisons-shouldn-t-be-there-period-but-they-areprofitable-chattel
Knafo, S. (2013, October 4). 1 In 3 Black Males Will Go To Prison In Their Lifetime,
Report Warns. Retrieved November 1, 2014, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/04/racial-disparities-criminaljustice_n_4045144.html
Ore, T. (2014). Beyond Crime and Punishment: Prisons and Inequality. In The Social
Construction of Difference & Inequality (6th ed., pp. 400-406). New York:
McGraw-Hill Education.
Western, B., & Pettit, B. (2002). Beyond Crime and Punishment: Prisons and Inequality. In The
Social Construction of Difference & Inequality (3rd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 37-43). American
Sociological Association.

Pettit, B., & Western, B. (2004). Mass Imprisonment and the Life Course: Race and Class
Inequality in U.S. Incarceration. ProQuest, 69(2), 151-169. Retrieved November

Cammarota 11

4, 2013, from ProQuest.

Walshe, S. (2014, June 6). Orange is the New Black in real life is a prison epidemic of
too many women in jail and taxpayers like you in the red. Retrieved November
10, 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/06/orangeis-the-new-black-in-real-life-prison-women-in-jail
Winddance Twine, F. (2008). Globalization and Incarceration: Comment on Andersen.
Gender and Society, 22(1), 93-98. Retrieved October 27, 2014, from J Stor.