Institutional Inequality

          Being unable to find the right words can bring progress to a standstill. This week in another class of mine we have been discussing sex, specifically sexual assault and consent. We quickly learned that words hold a lot of power. Historically many cases related to sexual assault have relied solely on the word no or the lack thereof. This aids in placing the blame on the victim, implying that because a target was unable to say no that assault did not occur. To me this is very similar to the lack of common vocabulary when it comes to matters of prejudice, discriminations, racism, etc. It is just one of the ways in which the dominant group is controlling subordinate groups (Miller, 1986).

            This lack of shared language was exhibited many times throughout the video. I never heard one of the inmates or delinquents say that institutionalized discrimination had contributed to their criminality. This obviously is not because they were not affected by institutionalized discrimination, but because they have probably never heard the term. It is like we are all having the same conversation but in different languages and rather than try to translate we have given up.  And if we have given up just trying to understand one another then it seems foolhardy to believe that real change can be a result of this backwards system. Yet, as social workers that is our job. We have to be the people that believe and continue to fight for change regardless of how impossible it might seem.

            Hearing these stories and reading about discrimination is both inspiring and crushing at the same time. Charles’ story was especially emotional. He began by stating that he was a veteran who served in the Vietnam War. It was during the war that he started drinking and became addicted to drugs. Charles had since gotten clean but still suffered effects from the war. Charles’ time in jail cost around $200,000 but he received virtually no mental health treatment. His time in jail did not prepare him to be a successful member of society. This mirrors how Demetria talked about jail. She described that each time she went to jail she felt angrier and she never felt as though she had learned anything.

            Even those working within the criminal system agreed that we are spending too much money on arresting and housing inmates that should never have been put in jail. One warden explained that his jail consistently had over the maximum capacity of inmates. He went on to describe shoving inmates in “nooks and crannies,” like they were no longer humans. Two different men (potentially wardens) made a point to say that police were arresting people they were mad at instead of people they were afraid of. This is strange rhetoric to me. Words not focused on protection or service but violence, encouraging officers to see criminals and not human beings. This is the crushing part, that systemic inequality practically guides people to prison based on their skin color and their family’s income. As if that were not enough the criminal justice system then leaves these people with no money, no life skills, and often mental or physical needs that they cannot afford to take proper care of. Then we have the audacity to call these people failures because they cannot thrive in a society that has been working against them their whole lives. We cannot let the crushing part outweigh inspiration. Each day we are surrounded by people doing inspired things in an attempt to change the world. As a social worker I can only hope to be one of those people.

Edge, D. (Producer), & Mucciolo, L. (Producer). (2014, April 29). Frontline: Prison State [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/prison-state/

Miller, J. (2014). Domination and Subordination. In Race, Class, and Gender in the United States (9th ed., pp. 110-117). Worth.

Pincus, F. (1996). Discrimination Comes in Many Forms. The American Behavioral Scientist, 40(2), 186-194.