Mass Incarceration

Abstract

The chapter begins with an overview of the growth of the prison population from the end of the civil war to the Obama administration. The authors describe all of the structural inequalities African Americans faced that stymied their growth economically and socially as a people, and subsequently led to the mass incarceration of Black men. The authors discuss the historical underpinnings of the factors that lead to mass incarceration and how these factors ultimately fueled the prison-industrial complex. The chapter also discusses the ways in which the Black Church contributes to the rehabilitation of former incarcerated persons, and, lastly, the authors discuss the implications for social work education.