Long Road to Nowhere: How Southern States Struggle with Long-Term Incarceration

20 Pages Posted: 7 Apr 2021

Date Written: February 2021

Abstract

The Deep South is the epicenter of mass incarceration. The United States incarcerates more people per capita than any other country, with prison populations growing by 86% between 1990 and 2019. For Southern states, prison populations exploded by 127% during that same period. During this time in history, America implemented “tough on crime” policies that responded to public health issues like the drug epidemic with incarceration instead of rehabilitation. Laws for even nonviolent crimes became more punitive with longer sentences, and people of color were disproportionately pushed into prisons with little hope for parole. Today, incarceration rates for Latinx and Black people are more than two and five times the incarceration rate of whites, respectively. The commitment to the “tough on crime” narrative led to significantly overcrowded prisons, which not only put a strain on state budgets, but also created human rights challenges regarding how to maintain a safe and healthy prison environment.

Three Southern states in particular — Alabama, Florida, and Louisiana — exemplify how prison populations have grown to be problematic in three unique ways. Alabama is home to the most overcrowded prisons in the country, currently at 151% of capacity. Even after sentencing reforms were passed in 2017, recent legislation concerning the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles has severely diminished the parole chances of currently incarcerated people. Florida, with over 95,000 imprisoned people, has the third-largest prison population of any state in the country, and still adheres to a “Truth in Sentencing” rule requiring incarcerated people to serve at least 85% of their sentences, regardless of any demonstration of rehabilitation. As a result, Florida has grown to have the oldest prison population in the South, a group whose care is increasingly expensive. Louisiana has been known as the “incarceration capital of the world” for consistently having incredibly high incarceration rates. A large factor is the number of people serving life sentences without the possibility of parole, including juveniles.

The lack of early prison release is just one of many contributors to mass incarceration in the South. The solutions also vary — from expanding parole eligibility and making it retroactive, to increasing incentives for rehabilitation credits, to re-calibrating triggers for life without parole sentences. This report will investigate the impact that over-incarceration has had in three Southern states, and provide recommendations on how each state can address the issue through policy change.

Keywords: mass incarceration, prison, parole, sentencing, criminal justice

Suggested Citation

Davis, Delvin, Long Road to Nowhere: How Southern States Struggle with Long-Term Incarceration (February 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3820857 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3820857

Delvin Davis (Contact Author)

Southern Poverty Law Center ( email )

Montgomery, AL
United States
5042207706 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.splcenter.org

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