The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world with over two million of its citizens behind bars. Many women and men are incarcerated as a direct or indirect result of the criminalization of select drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and marijuana through the so-called “War on Drugs.” Injustices associated with this war are well documented. The historic oppression of African Americans has continued through this system of mass incarceration. The current trend of prison privatization has exacerbated these problems.

The financial and human cost of mass incarceration is very high at both the individual and communal levels. Prisons have been places more frequently geared for retribution, rather than rehabilitation or restoration. Recidivism rates soar with nearly a third of those incarcerated returning to jail or prison within five years of release. In the words of a jail chaplain, “People are serving life sentences in installments.” They perpetuate on-going suffering in their communities. Most people who are incarcerated are victims themselves, as well as victimizers, caught up in a cycle of poverty, abuse, and criminality that is as difficult to escape as any bricks and mortar prison.