The Problematic Prison Systems in America and Israel
Capitalism’s racial inequalities are on full display within the United State’s prison system. The United States has the largest incarceration rate in the world and its prison population equals almost twenty percent of the entire global prison population. One of the defining features of this incarceration rate is the racial disparity we see within it. For example, even though people of various races use and sell drugs at similar rates, people of color are imprisoned at much higher rates compared to white people. Incarceration rates are not just limited to drug-related offenses but are rather part of a larger trend. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) observed that “one out of every three Black boys born today can expect to go to prison in his lifetime, as can one of every six Latino boys – compared to one of every seventeen white boys.” These racist practices did not become a part of our institutions overnight. Officials in Southern states hoped to mitigate the economic losses from the abolishment of slavery by using prison labor to strengthen their economies. Prisons allowed states to single-out Black Americans for free labor. Under our Constitution, incarcerated persons lose the right to refuse to work and basic workplace protections such as minimum wage laws and the right to unionize. By exploiting the incarcerated, state economies profited tremendously. According to the ACLU, the prison populations produce more than $2 billion per year in goods and more than $9 billion per year in services for the maintenance of the prisons. Overall, the prison system in the United States can be characterized by two main features. Firstly, it disproportionately affects and harms minority groups, and secondly, it functions as a profit-generating business. In the end, the prison system is cyclical. The system needs more prisoners to generate more revenue which results in the need to increase the incarcerated population.
The defining characteristics of the American prison system have parallels in the Israeli prison system. It is important to note that the following discussion also includes the West Bank along with Israel proper. Similar to the American trend of higher incarceration of minorities, Israel (73.9% Jewish population and a 21% Arab minority) has imprisoned about 20% of its Palestinian population since the 1967 war. Approximately 40% of male Palestinians in the West Bank have been arrested at least once during their lives, which is twice their proportion of the general population. Additionally, Palestinians’ rate of imprisonment is almost four times higher than that of Israelis.
In the West Bank, military courts have been established which deal exclusively with the Palestinians. This can be dated back to Israel’s capture of the West Bank (along with the Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights) in the Arab-Israeli War of 1967. There are several complexities in the administration of the West Bank. Israel has either imposed complete military rule in Area C, which is 61% of the West Bank or partial military rule in Area B, which comprises 23% of the West Bank. Initially, the military courts had jurisdiction over residents and non-residents of the West Bank. However, when Israeli settlers started arriving in the West Bank in the late 1970s, the Israeli government passed a law allowing the Israeli civilian courts to try Israeli nationals even if the crime was committed in the West Bank. This created a fundamental difference in the way Palestinians living in the West Bank were treated compared to the Israeli settlers. While the Israeli offenders were tried in civilian courts, the Palestinians accused of committing the same crime were tried in the military courts. Neighbors were now being tried under different systems which bear a stark resemblance to the “separate but equal” Jim Crow era in America. In addition, there are serious disparities between the Israeli military and civilian courts. One example of the inequalities in the two systems is that although both court systems grant the right to counsel, only Israeli civilian courts regularly provide state funded public defenders and attorney-client meetings are permitted without delay. In military courts, all proceedings are conducted in Hebrew, which adversely affects the efficient defense of Arabic speakers. Lastly, civilian courts are open to the public, but the military courts are conducted under closed doors, with limited access to public scrutiny. This effectively negates the right to an open trial and further contributes to the inequality of the criminal justice system.
The inequalities in the Israeli prison system are not limited to the West Bank but can also be observed in the rest of Israel. According to a study done by Professor Giora Rhava, the imposition of prison sentences is generally greater for Arab offenders compared to the Jewish offenders. Additionally, Arabs tend to receive harsher sentencing and penalties compared to their Jewish compatriots. The professors in the study concluded that there were clear biases against Arabs, and that although these biases were small, because “the process involves multiple stages, these small biases accumulate.” The implicit racial bias in the criminal justice system against the Arab population bears resemblance to the way African Americans are treated in the American criminal justice system.
Similar to the American system, there is evidence that Israel also profits from their incarcerated population. In 2013, a research and advocacy center called Who Profits, identified twenty two corporations which profit from prisons inside Israel and the West Bank. Most of these corporations provided security systems and services such as food to the incarceration facilities. In the West Bank, prisoners are expected to spend their own money for their basic needs. The private company Dadash Hadarom Distribution (one of the corporations mentioned above) has been providing food and other supplies in all Israeli prisons since at least 2009. The Palestinian advocacy organization Palestine Monitor found that the prices charged by Dadash Hadarom Distribution were “radically higher” when compared to the prices of the same goods in Palestinian-administered territories. For example, two pounds of chicken sold in the Ofer military prison cost $17.38 compared to $5.52 in Ramallah. Any system that is able to profiteer like this from a vulnerable group, like the incarcerated, is a failed system.
Overall, the prison industrial complexes in America and Israel are in a desperate need of reforms and highlight a need to break away from the exploitative and systemic profiteering inherent within them. The blatant disregard for the incarcerated can not continue if we are to build a society that works for the economic and social liberation of all its citizens. Removing private prisons and detaching the profit motive behind incarceration will allow for a fair criminal justice system that focuses on rehabilitation rather than punishment and exploitation. Whether it is the case of African Americans or Palestinian Arabs, the unfair imprisonment and “othering” of the minority groups along with the profiteering from an unjust system must be eliminated.