Too Many Locked-Up in Legoland: Systemic Flaws in Incarceration

Justin Bongco

Too Many Locked-Up in Legoland : Systemic Flaws in Incarceration

A country that prides itself as the “land of the free” ironically has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Surpassing developing third world countries and nations known for suppressing liberties, Legoland has 25% of the world’s prisoners locked up in its penitentiaries. (Liptak 2008) This ill of society, like many others, is a systemic problem. The Lego protestor demonstrates this, as he is a part of it as an officer of the law. The central causes of corruption, racism, and draconian policies are to blame.

                  Before the cause of mass incarceration is identified, it is imperative to overview the problem of crime in Legoland. Crime rates in Legoland have dropped tremendously over the past few decades. According to the Criminal Victimization Report of 2011 conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, violent crime has gone down by 72% since 1993. (http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv11.pdf) This trend is not limited to violent crimes; nearly all crimes are declining. This does not add up. A rapid reduction in crime rates and overflowing prisons are inherently contradictory. A factor that may contribute to (not cause) this phenomenon is longer sentencing. Pew’s Public Safety and Performance Project compared time served by prisoners in 1990 and 2009. It found that, on average, prisoners were sentenced to nine more months, or a 36% longer stay in 2009 than they were in 1990. ("Time Served - The High Cost of Long Prison Terms" June 06, 2012)

                  The criminal justice system is corrupt. That is why there are so many locked up in Legoland. The outsourcing of correctional facilities to corporations, and the inability to shake prejudice against African Legonians are some reasons to blame for the mass incarceration. Ostensibly a low-cost alternative, many states have elected to employ private companies like Corrections Corporation of Legoland to deal with their rising prison populations. For-profit prisons and society have an obvious conflict of interest. More prisoners equal more money. To rehabilitate criminals and reintegrate them to be contributing members of society is against a for-profit prison’s bottom line. In addition to private prisons, misappropriation of federal and state money also demonstrates a system of corruption—or at least stupidity. According to the NAACP in their study, Misplaced Priorities, across the nation money is being reallocated away from institutions like higher education to fund prisons. ("Misplaced Priorities: Over Incarcerate, Under Educate" May 2011) The facts above suggest that people are in prisons and we want to keep them there. For-profit prisons will obviously not focus on the rehabilitative side of the justice system, because that would undermine their business. Well functioning citizens, re-integrated into society do not turn a profit. Also, a culture that pours money into addressing the symptoms (criminals and prisoners) and not the cause (income disparity, poverty, etc.) is either corrupt or daft.

                  Legonian government enabled this problem. Draconian policies have jailed and imprisoned many for non-violent crimes, with longer and unyielding sentences. Ronald Reagan’s War on Drugs and response to the crack cocaine epidemic established a precedence of minimum sentencing without any room for jurisprudence. It also left African Legonians victims to a racist system. Marijuana usage is approximately the same rate between black and white legos. For example, in Louisiana 60% of marijuana arrests are black. (Quigley 2013)It is important to note, however, that the overall population of black legos there is only 32%. It is easier and more common for a black lego to get arrested for the same crime as a white lego. Thus it can be argued that there is a lower standard for arrests for black than white legos.

                  A man on the inside, the lego protestor is an officer who understands the need for a paradigm shift in the way the correctional system is viewed in Legoland. Incarceration in Legoland, as it is now, is costly, disproportional, and unjust.

Work Cited

International Centre for Prison Studies, "Entire World - Prison Population Tables." Accessed October 1, 2013.

Liptak, Adam. "U.S. Prison Population Dwarfs that of other Nations." The New York Times, April 23, 2008.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, "Misplaced Priorities: Over Incarcerate, Under Educate." Last modified May 2011. Accessed October 1, 2013. http://naacp.3cdn.net/ecea56adeef3d84a28_azsm639wz.pdf.

The Pew Charitable Trusts , "Time Served - The High Cost of Long Prison Terms." Last modified June 06, 2012. Accessed October 1, 2013. http://www.pewstates.org/research/reports/time-served-85899394616.

Quigley, Bill. "Black and White and Green All Over: The Insanity of Marijuana Arrests." Huffington Post, , sec. The Blog, September 24, 2013. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/this-insanity-must-stop_b_3975645.html (accessed October 1, 2013).