Incarceration is Torture
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Incarceration is Torture
There’s no denying that the United States has the world’s highest incarceration rate. Our country represents less than 5% of the world’s population, yet a staggering 20% of incarcerated people worldwide are found in the “land of the free”.
Over the past four decades, the US went from an incarcerated population of 315,974 in 1980 to 1,380,427 in 2019—a mind-blowing 450% increase.
This catastrophic outcome resulted from the one-two punch of harsh sentencing laws and a privatized prison-industrial complex that achieves maximum profit when institutions are kept at max capacity. Combine these factors with systemic racial profiling and public indifference and we have a system that is broken at best—and sadistic at worst.
As to the question of actual guilt, 70% of the people in jail are held pretrial and 97% enter plea deals. This means the vast majority never get their day in court, having waived their right to a trial out of fear of a heavier sentence if found guilty.
Most of those incarcerated are young Black and Latino men. Men. People. Humans.
When people are incarcerated, they are stripped of their dignity. They are treated worse than animals. They must endure life-threatening temperatures in cells with no air conditioning over sweltering summer months and near-freezing temperatures during winter months—so cold, they can often see their own breath in their cells. They are fed a diet that the general public has been told to avoid for decades because it causes heart disease and diabetes. They are served rotten food, devoid of essential nutrients.
40% of incarcerated people have chronic health conditions, yet they are denied an annual physical and forced to live with uncontrolled diabetes and high blood pressure, putting them at risk for vision loss, stroke, nerve damage and loss of limb. Teeth are pulled, not filled.
Violence is inescapable and the trauma is life-long. A recent study found that over 1 in 5 incarcerated persons suffer physical abuse—with 21% of that number reporting it was at the hands of prison staff. People who are incarcerated are exposed to tear gas and tasers. They are exposed to violence so frequently that it gives way to anxiety, depression and hypervigilant behavior much like those who have survived war.
Solitary confinement is used as a means of inhumane punishment and, more recently, for isolating those with symptoms of COVID-19. This causes indelible harm due to the lack of human contact. The tiny cells trigger panic attacks, paranoia and hallucinations, rendering incarcerated people incapable of living with others and left in a constant state of fright. Studies show that solitary confinement is so traumatic, it increases the risk of suicide by 78%.
Our goal is to ensure that when a person is going to trial or agreeing to a plea deal, that they have the best defense possible. No one should go ever to trial or take a plea deal without medical evidence being reviewed by a healthcare provider.
From pretrial to compassionate release and parole, Nurses for Social Justice works with public defenders and other attorneys to secure release from prison and jail. We work alongside public defenders from coast to coast reviewing medical records, assisting with interpretation, essential analysis, cross prep, research and testimony.
Nurses for Social Justice offers pathways and guidance for nurses to engage in social justice causes, encouraging them to work with public defenders at affordable rates, apply their skills and expertise to criminal justice reform, and help previously incarcerated people navigate healthcare post-release. More recently, we have been working with public defenders to secure the release of people awaiting trial in the humanitarian crisis that is Rikers Island.
Please join us in standing up for the exploited and powerless. We are the only nonprofit in the country that does this work.
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