Once I read the introduction and the first chapter of “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander and saw her definition of an ongoing phenomenon known as racial caste, I remembered the article entitled Prison and the Poverty Trap. In that article, it discussed what imprisonment does to inmates upon their reintegration into society. It states that inmates earned a little more than $1.00 a day. Even with the discrimination that the inmates will face upon release, the pitiful wages that they earn in prison is not enough for inmates to support themselves or their family after their sentence. I cannot wait for chapter 6 for Alexander to give some examples on how to combat the “racial caste” system we currently have in place imposed by the War on Drugs.

I knew I had to check if there had been updates on the policies that exist today when it comes to drug arrests because of the still ongoing War on Drugs. I came across an article written in March of 2013 where federal judges are working with prosecutors in order to sidestep drug laws. In other words, the accused could enroll in a program where the convicted would have to pass a sobriety program. After they pass the program, they would avoid prison. I wonder if Alexander would think differently of Obama because of this, as she claims little has been done to the system of control during his administration (Alexander, 14). Also, I wonder if individuals under this program would still be denied assistive housing because of being sent to trial. It would be interesting to see if this is a step in the positive direction in order to address the mass incarceration rates of drug related crimes or if this program was put in place to curb the increasing cost of prisons. Nevertheless, progress has been making sentencing more lenient for drug related crimes compared to the War on Drug’s no tolerance policy.

Articles mentioned: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/science/long-prison-terms-eyed-as-contributing-to-poverty.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=science