Prison Industrial Complex. Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) is a phrase employed to define the overlying interests of

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1 Surname 1 Name Instructor Course Date Prison Industrial Complex Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) is a phrase employed to define the overlying interests of industry and government that employ incarceration, policing or controlling, and surveillance/ monitoring as a remedy to actual, political, economic and social sues. Through its influence and reach, the prison industrial complex aids to fortify the power or influence of individuals who attain their influence through economic, racial as well as other operational civil liberties by safeguarding and defending current distribution of power. It benefits the industry, government and other people who already hold power in the Society. The processes through which this unequal is reaped as well as maintained include: the creation of media images and pictures that disseminate stereotypes of queer individuals, poor individuals, people of color, youths, immigrants and many more, as deviant, delinquent or criminal; earning huge returns for companies or organizations that offers offer services and goods to the prison industrial complex; increasing the police unions and prison guard influence; facilitating political gains; jettisoning political and social dissent by poor individuals, people of color, immigrants, as well as others who make demands of autonomy and power reorganization in America. Currently, the United States confines over two million individuals in cells, and holds approximately 6.6 million of its citizens in different correctional supervision (parole, on probation or imprisoned). The media and stated have come together to paint an image of threat lurking around every nook and crook in an effort to vindicate the utilization of tax

2 Surname 2 money for the subjugation as well as imprisonment of an increasing number of friends, colleagues and members of the family. Just like any other industries in a given capitalist structure or system, the prison industrial complex needs a steady increase of raw materials (the inmates) to uphold itself, irrespective of real rates of crime. Some political class strongly believes that prisons, surveillance, and policing make United State secure. It implies that when more citizens are locked up, the more diligently we watch "chary" individual, the more secure American become, even though many studies have failed to prove that locking many people in cages reduces the rates of crime in America. The PIC maintains the present power system by responding to economic and social issues (that is gender inequities, racial, economic) with policing as well as incarceration. Physically controlling individual by repudiating them rudimentary freedoms and confining them in cells is a perfectly effective method of preventing individual from intimidating the existing state of affairs. Components of PIC US Prison Industrial Complex is a very broad system that can be divided into several categories. Criminalization Criminalization is the process that makes certain actions illegal. Actions become delinquencies only after they have been legally or culturally defined through processes including institutional policies, court rulings or legislation. Notions regarding the meaning of criminal go far past specific actions. Besides, criminalization refers to what transpire when the whole group of individuals, or of given social conditions (the queer people, the homeless juvenile), are the target of the police force for surveillance, punishment, as well as control.

3 Surname 3 Homelessness criminalization involves controlling homelessness individuals through legislation such as public urination, sleeping in certain areas and participating in casual economies unlawful and punishable. Criminalization of women using substance includes strict new regulations that can imprison pregnant women if proven by the hospital and certified doctors to have been using drugs during pregnancies. The youth of color criminalization comprises directly including the law enforcement into the security of the school and laws in various streets and cities that ban youths from gathering in groups in town streets as well as media picture portraying juvenile of rowdy color super-predators. Rudimentary social activities are overlaid with too much suspicion. Immigrants and non-citizens criminalization encourage racial profiling, uncalled-for stop and search for immigrants, and detention, imprisonment and deportation. The criminalization process is an essential part of the US prison industrial complex. Besides, criminalization an important tool enable the law enforcement and justice system in the United States to target not only certain actions but also certain groups of individuals while maintaining a society that strongly believes that felons are a serious threat to people of America. Criminalization has also contributed to the fable that economic, political, and social security can be attained by caging, controlling and surveillance of particular group who suffer greatest under structural disparities including racism and poverty. Media The survival and flourishing of the prison industrial complex (PIC) rely on in a bigger measure the strength of the fables of punishment and crime that the media fraternity delivers. The media have contributed greatly to our perception and understanding about a criminal, the

4 Surname 4 fitting responses and actions to criminal behavior and creating as well as an augmenting feeling of fright and susceptibility among their audience. Surveillance Also termed as close watching or observation of a group or person being suspected, is a fundamental strategy of the prison industrial complex. This is done using electronic gadgets such as monitoring mobile, and another form of communication of the people under surveillance as well as tracking their movements and physical actions. The tactic of surveillance is mainly employed by prison industrial complex to encourage individuals to censor their actions and statements. The tactics can use informants to gain access and acquire information about the group under close watch. Policing The choice law enforcement make regarding the type of group to target, what to mark them for, as well as when to seizure and book them, influence who is caged. Such choices are again made in the bigger policing picture created to target unprivileged people such as immigrants, poor individuals, people of color, as well as individuals who go against the norms of their homes or the city. Policing in most occasion incorporated violence in an effort to maintain its universal power and the individual authority of the law enforcement officers. Courts The American court system is quite overwhelmed with numerous individuals across the nation who cannot afford bail pending their trials as well as court dates in cages even for at least twelve months. Lawyers and public attorneys assigned with the duty to defend these people are also overwhelmed with many cases. The court is mainly used to convict people accused of committing crimes. Prisons

5 Surname 5 The final Prison mien of the prison complex structure is the prison. Prisons are constructed to create set-ups of total surveillance as well as complete physical control. Besides, prison is created to isolate. The design in the construction of prisons is to reduce as much as possible the contact of convicts, so that individuals who are caged have little possibility to interact with other individuals other than prison wardens, contributing further to the desensitizing effects of incarceration. The United States has the highest number of its citizens in prison than any other nation in the world.