Mass Incarceration

Abstract

“We need to stop talking about mass incarceration. ...Yes, the numbers justify calling it “mass.” But people experience imprisonment as something quite personal. It’s your father wearing greens. Your husband is “upstate.” Your Mommy cuffed in the back of a patrol car. When you walk into that visiting room, you see your son incarcerated, and other parents visiting their sons, not “masses”. We can only see people as the worst thing they have ever done if we don’t actually see them.” Elizabeth Gaynes, President and CEO, Osborne Association. (abridged)