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Madison Haugland
Professor Alzen
ENG 123
21 February 2016
Silencing American Voices
Mass incarceration in America today is singlehandedly silencing nearly five million
voices in numerous ways. They are being silenced mentally through lack of adequate education
environments and silenced verbally by legal restrictions on their political participation. Most
people are blind to the implications of this issue. To put it into perspective, President Obama won
the popular vote by a little less than three million votes. In addition, four times more American
citizens are shut up by mass incarceration (totaling nearly five million) than have died in all of
our nations wars combined (totaling roughly 1.25 million). By ignoring masses of people,
Americas culture of standing up for freedom is being manipulated beyond what anyone could
imagine, just through incarceration. Mass incarceration has caused the prison system of America
to quiet voices by not providing adequate educational opportunities for criminals while in prison,
by stripping away certain rights of citizenship, and by settling for mediocrity in the standards of
education and the expectation of prisoners. By analyzing the history of this issue and proposing
solutions, the trend of recidivism, which is silencing American voices, may be ended; this could
profoundly alter the course of our nation.
In 1993, Home Secretary Michael Howard announced that prison works. By this
statement he meant that imprisonment worked in the sense that it decreased the crime rate and
fixed the criminals to be fit to reenter society. By making this declaration Howard convinced
millions that prison was the best go-to option for how to fix felons. He was approving the

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institution itself, rather than a specific system within the prison that was causing criminals to
improve. The solution to decrease crime rates became sending people off to prison rather than
educating them or developing them as human beings, who possessed individuality and original
thought inferred from an ethical worldview. The improper generalization has led to many
harmful effects. Burnett and Maruna explain, Not surprisingly following the prison works
pronouncement, the prison population increased (391). Not only did the prison population grow,
but also the frequency and length of the sentences being given. As the influx of prisoners
increased, issues of felon disenfranchisement laws became more prominent. Nunns study from
2003 explains how disenfranchisement laws in America have existed since the mid 1800s and
that such laws went unquestioned because many other groups, such as African Americans,
Native Americans, women, the property-less, and the mentally ill were also not permitted to vote
in the United States (765). It seemingly was just and fair to deny felons those rights since our
nation was doing it to so many other people groups simultaneously. Despite that conclusion
seeming logical, that is only half the story. Time Magazine wrote an article discussing the hot
topic of why felons cannot vote and they reminded America that, In 1800, no state prohibited
felons from voting. On the eve of the Civil War, 80% of the states did, largely to block African
Americans, who though rarely allowed to vote were disproportionately represented among
felons (Holding). The main reason felons were denied the vote was to begin blocking African
American votes. It has always been about manipulation. It has never been to show that if one
does not abide by the laws they shall have no say in them or the leaders; that may be the excuse
used today but it is untrue. Laws of disenfranchisement still disproportionately effect African
Americans, the poor, and minority males. However, as time went on, gradually everyone was
given the right to vote, except prisoners. Obviously, our nation has changed in many radical ways

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from civil war days to the present. Nevertheless, criminals are still permanently disenfranchised,
which steals away their ability to partake in the political process. They should be allowed to be
involved in one of the most influential decisions American citizens get to make. The more people
are kept from voting the less power citizens truly have because the government is manipulating
the system. Especially since the prison population is disproportionately African America, poor,
and minorities more attention must be paid to the clear discrimination that is occurring. It is pure
manipulation and by casting aside voices such as these, the true leader that the majority of
America wants may never enter office. Mass incarceration therefore is the largest blockade of
human rights still existing in America. African Americans, women, and the uneducated can vote
but five million free US citizens are prohibited from casting votes by the laws of the states in
which they live (Nunn 763). They are free in the sense they no longer live in a literal prison
cell, but are still politically locked up and inactive. Nunn continues stating that, Fourteen states
permanently disenfranchise ex-felons, thirty-five states exclude felons on parole, thirty-one states
disqualify those on probation, and forty-eight states and the District of Columbia deny the vote to
all convicted felons in prisons (763). These ancient laws are contributing to mass segregation.
According to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
African Americans constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population,
and have nearly six times the incarceration rate of whites. The inequality is surreal and knowing
the statistics of the prison population further shows disenfranchising laws as a means of
segregation and discrimination from voting. Another sobering statistic is, One in six black men
had been incarcerated as of 2001. If current trends continue, one in three black males born today
can expect to spend time in prison during his lifetime (NAACP). Until the disproportionality of
the prison population is remedied it is safe to conclude it as a tool of discrimination, segregation,

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and political manipulation. Another factor blocking these rights is that Support [has] decreased
for rehabilitative programs and increased for keeping offenders incarcerated (Evans 88).
Evanss research published in 2008 discovered that many people were convinced that keeping
criminals in prison longer and more frequently was the best way to prevent them from partaking
in more crime.
Holding to this mindset, as crime activity grew throughout the 1980s it resulted in more
mandatory sentencing and life terms for criminals on a federal and state level (Evans 88). This
tactic however is a poor way to deal with recidivism, which refers to a felons backsliding into
criminal activity. Recidivism has shown the strongest correlation to education, according to
researchers Duguid , Esperian, and Vacca. This means education lowers the recidivism rate,
hence the crime rate. Prison works theory, disenfranchising criminals, and locking them up is
not reducing the crime rate nor the recidivism rate. It is time to look for new options and
eliminate the injustice of mass incarceration as it simply does not work and its effects result in
the silencing of criminal voices by not providing adequate educational opportunities and
stripping away their rights.
The theory that recidivism and education are strongly correlated is becoming wellknown; but why do these two activities go hand in hand? Recidivism refers to a felons
backsliding into criminal activity and so logically if a criminal is more educated and equipped to
be a positively contributing citizen, they will be less likely to become re-involved in the crime
scene. Research analyzed by Duguid, Esperian, and Vacca all suggest this same connection.
Despite Duguids work being published over three decades ago, his ability to identify trends
ahead of his time was and is revolutionary. Duguids work is foundational for most recidivism
studies today. He discusses how education can be pivotal in a prisoners ability to make different

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decisions in the future, ones that will not lead to further criminal activity. Duguid continues to
describe the two essential elements prison systems need: an essential concern of ethics or
morality and a goal of the development of thought itself (423). The development of thought
itself is crucial. We do not want just educated criminals, so it must go deeper. The importance of
that concept is also supported by the more modern writers Esperian and Vacca. Esperian argues
that states should fund better education classes for inmates for two reasons: doing so reduces
recidivism dramatically and because educating felons eliminates the costs associated with long
term warehousing (320). Long term warehousing refers to the fact that prisons have become
human warehouses for holding as many prisoners as possible and for long periods of time. This
is very costly. Esperian quotes Schwartz, who was a lawyer and prison education advocate,
saying, The prevailing wisdom is that prisoners deserved to be treated like animals (322).
However, the consequences of such conditions must be observed. Prisoners, and humanity itself,
when treated this way will show a deep unwillingness to take responsibility for their wrongs,
lack of remorse, and a boiling up of anger due to being treated as an animal. Education itself will
help equip them for society but if their correctional facilities, also known as inhumane longterm storage lockers, extinguish that flame for growth then all is lost (Esperian 322). Similarly,
Vacca links recidivism and education by explaining that prisoners who participate in educational
programs while incarcerated are less likely to return to prison after they are released. All the
research points to this same conclusion. However, Vacca goes a step further and connects
participation in the education programs to less violence within the prison, highlighting yet
another perk of effective education programs. Overall, there are many aspects that contribute to a
positive learning environment. However, if Duguids ideals of ethics and thought are lacking, if
the prison is a horrible nightmarish storage room like Esperian suggests, and if violence runs

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rampant as Vacca reports, then the hopes of quality education actually being taken advantage of
once offered are ruined.
Clearly recidivism and education are correlated; hence, improved education should be a
priority to decrease the recidivism rate. The above studies of Duguid, Esperian, and Vacca show
how valuable education is to improve someone criminal or not. A persons ability to
communicate should not be denied them and it should be offered effectively. As mentioned
previously, the old idea that prison works is challenged by Burnett and Maruna because
imprisonment has gotten out of hand with many negative results. Their study follows up on 130
men and their subsequent criminal careers. Detrimental effects of mass imprisonment upon
society at large are seen by analyzing the lives these men were capable of leading after their
release. Unable to access education or not being show the necessity of it caused unfortunate
consequences for several of them. In some instances, men sank back into criminal activity or
were unable to attain higher paying jobs to provide for their families causing poverty to take over
their lives (Burnett and Maruna 400). America can no longer be under the guise that a prison
sentence alone will reform and improve a person. Jail time does not fix everything. Felons must
be equipped to live in the real world following release otherwise our justice system is breeding
more criminal activity by incarcerating people, not stopping it.
Education is the key to self-improvement and success, yet criminals have a somewhat
limited access to this system; the problem isnt with the textbooks it is with the goal of the
teaching. Duguid conveys how important ethics must be when he says, The education program
must go to the heart of the matter, to the thinking patterns of the prisoner/student and to the
moral/ethical framework within which those patterns operate (143). If the morals of crime pays
were shaken even the slightest bit then there would be hope for actually changing the mindset of

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our criminals. The solution the negative effects of mass incarceration that is widely being
discussed is to simply provide better education for the incarcerated which would equip them for
a productive life after prison. However, it is vital that everyone understand what better
education really means. It means we must develop a learning environment where thoughts can
flourish on their own; Duguid even stated the ability to create thought was one of the two
essential elements in reducing recidivism (423). It means we must give them back a sense of
humanity while in prison and out; they should never be treated as animals or those animalistic
instincts of survival will trump any ethics we try to impose. The field workers and human rights
activists advocate for better education they do not necessarily mean better book smart education,
they mean educating criminals to act and think thoughtfully and morally. However, how to
actually go about that is fairly delicate. Issues of funding and actually motivating policy makers
and prisoners alike are some of the obstacles stymieing any improvements. By and large,
everyone agrees education reduces the rate of recidivism. If we can shrink that rate then
imprisonment will steadily decrease. However, the obstacle of actually motivating the prisoners
to want to become educated and therefore heard is challenging. The solution is very multi-step.
As discussed above, first a healthy moral thoughtful education environment must be created.
Next would come a very extensive training process for the teachers and prison staff. It is vital
they all share in mind the same vision and mission. Teachers must be driven to foster an ethics
centered environment. Vacca also sees the importance of this as he states, that the success of a
prison education program is influenced most by the values and attitudes of persons in authority
positions (300). Vacca continues to explain how this is especially true for corrections officers
and teachers who ultimately determine whether or not the prison should be considered as a
place of punishment or rehabilitation (300). Then the next step, after motivating prisoners to

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thought and training the staff to focus on rehabilitation, is to scale back legislature that eliminates
ex-felons or those on parole from the act of voting. This again ties into prisoners regaining their
sense of humanity. In the past, America has denied votes to people when they were seen as
property or not worthy of voicing their opinions. This type of treatment of felons would be
utterly detrimental to their moral and thoughtful growth. Something as simple as that right is
stripped away permanently in many states as Nunn thoroughly explains (675). If these three key
steps were implemented improvements of the prisoners would follow which would decrease the
recidivism rate and begin undoing mass incarceration.
The above solution is an inside out approach to solving mass incarceration meaning we
must fix the inside before remedying the outside problems; another solution though is to work
from the outside in. Due to the mass disproportionality of those being imprisoned many like
Holing and the NAACP want to start with that issue. Tackling the racism that still exist in
America is a daunting task but that is the mission of this solution. Since mass incarceration is
mostly represented by African American then if we can end that discrimination then the prison
population will drop (NAACP). The NAACP organization claims that, According to Unlocking
America, if African American and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates of whites,
today's prison and jail populations would decline by approximately 50%. This would require
nationwide training of cops and judges to be more racially impartial. Though there may be a
systematic way to train government officials and decrease any discrimination within them, the
challenge of persuading average citizens to throw aside discrimination is tragically daunting,
near impossible. Holding reminds us that discrimination is alive and well making the act of
diminishing it exceedingly difficult; this means though the cops or judges may be less

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discriminatory the jury will not be. The idea of attacking the outside problems of mass
incarceration would be more favorable to permanently fixing the issue but it is very unattainable.
The first solution proposed however also has opposition in the form of opting for
complacency and settling for mediocrity. There are some who advocate, such as Hughes and
Rankin, that there is no education problem within the prison system and that prison itself should
turn someones life around or if they refuse to change then they deserve to be here. According to
Rankin and his studies, the idea that prisoners being illiterate is a myth; hence prison education
is doing well (48). However his standard is set at a fifth-grade reading level and is only focusing
on the book smart aspects of learning. Some other book smart aspects would include: the ability
to solve algebraic math problems, identify grammatical flaws in essays, and remembering key
presidents. Though intellectual facts such as these can be useful, when it becomes a
memorization act rather than promoting a development of self-thought then it is benefiting the
felon less. Similarly to Rankin, Hughes highlights the aspects of prison education that are
functioning well, but she does spend time discussing how to incentivize prisoners to participate.
Hughes sees that the only issue is with motivating felons to study books rather than develop their
own thoughts or ethics. Both authors seem satisfied if not pleased with the education available to
prisoners but they seem blind to the true limitations of the current system. Rankin believes a
fifth-grade reading level is satisfactory and Hughes sees the prisoners lack of motivation to want
to learn book smarts as the set-back. They eliminate the possibility of the issue being rooted in
the education being offered and the way it is being presented; instead, they settle or assume its
the prisoners responsibility. Aspects of this viewpoint are true, but ultimately one cannot dismiss
the option that the problem relates to the type of education being offered as well in what
environment it is being presented. In addition, Rankins study was based off one prison and then

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applied on a large scale; this leaves room for error since this particular case study might just be
an exception or statistically significant to not be as random as it may appear.
Being satisfied with the progress and outcomes of the prison education system is not the
most popular view. Rankin and Hughes serve as counter arguments to the viewpoint that the
education system within prisons is inadequate. They look objectively at the issue. However, the
sense of humanity that the prisoners deserve is brushed aside as if they have not earned the rights
that every other American citizen has. Rankin heavily relies on the immense amount of
numerical data; whereas, Hughes plays a persuasive role appealing to the integrity of her sources.
Despite their tactics and intentions, the American voices that are being silenced under the masks
of mass incarceration and supposed access to good education are in need of defenders who will
not settle for mediocrity. The solution advocated by Hughes and Rankin is really an avoidance to
the problem at hand, which is what many Americans support by being uninvolved in this issue.
By not insisting on any change or discussing these issues, most Americans remain uninformed
and therefore support mediocracy by not initiating change.
Change must be initiated and by doing cost benefit analysis and taking into account the
actual chances of success and improvement, the first solution introduced of creating a positive
ethics centered environment for education, training staff properly, and revising ancient legislation
is the most logical and beneficial to ending the injustices of mass incarceration. Though this
solution would require monetary costs initially, the improvements in education provided within
prison systems would ultimately lower recidivism rates. This means less crime, which means less
prisoners, which means lower costs of providing said education. This is a cycle that desperately
needs people to join together to push strongly to get it started. Further showing this need for
wisdom and change, Proverbs 1:2-7 says:

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For gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; for receiving
instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence
to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young let the wise listen and
add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance for understanding proverbs
and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
As Christians it is our responsibility to come alongside the fools and teach them prudent
behavior. If the education environment within prisons remains the same, felons will go in fools
and come out fools. Matthew chapter 25 calls us again to remember the least of these, the social
outcasts and rejects. We cannot and must not dismiss the criminals within our society and the
limitations imposed upon them through mass incarceration. The course of our nation is quickly
heading towards self-centeredness and materialism. If we as Christians participated in helping
the least of these then slowly we could affect our culture by showing Christs love. The ideals of
freedom that America stands for are diminishing and we must stand against it to ensure the future
still holds liberty for all and Christians who can be courageous.
American voices of criminals or ex-felons are manipulated when denied access to quality
education environments, when denied certain rights, and when those in power compromise for
inadequacy. This not only effects todays adults but also todays youth; ultimately tomorrows
future. The course of America is forever being altered by the silencing of their voices. America
may have a different president today if prisoners could vote. America may not be undergoing a
gun laws crisis if criminals were able to learn to deeply develop their own thoughts in an ethics
centered educational environment. So how do we end this manipulation? I argue that the solution
ultimately lies with first creating a healthy moral thoughtful education environment, second is to

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extensively train the teachers and prison staff to bring unity on the mission, and thirdly to start
revising old legislation to bestow human rights again to felons on parole or that have finished
serving their time. This process would not only improve the character of the prisoners but it
would prevent recidivism very effectively and begin to weaken the cycle causing mass
incarceration. The Bible demands this of us as well: to stand up for those who are being
disregarded and silenced by mental and political limitations. Our culture would be radically
different if these criminals were given better opportunities and equipped to positively contribute
toward society. The habit of thinking that prison fixes everything must end. Other paths must be
made. Voices criminal or not must be heard

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Duguid, S. Prison education and criminal choice: the context of decision making. Canadian
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Esperian, John H. "The Effect Of Prison Education Programs On Recidivism." Journal Of
Correctional Education 61.4 (2010): 316-334. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Jan.
2016.
Evans, Kim M. "Correctional Facilities: Prisons and Jails." Crime, Prisons, and Jails. 2009 ed.
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Holding, Reynolds. "Why Can't Felons Vote?" Time. Time Inc., 2006. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.
Hughes, Emma. Education in Prison: Studying Through Distance Learning. Farnham: Ashgate
Publishing Ltd, 2012. Web. 10 Jan. 2016.
NAACP. "Criminal Justice Fact Sheet." www.naacp.org. NAACP, 2009. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.
Nunn, Robin L. "Lock Them Up And Throw Away The Vote." Chicago Journal Of International
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Rankin, Carole E. "Illiterate Prisoners? Myths And Empirical Realities." Journal Of Offender
Rehabilitation 41.2 (2005): 43-55. PsycINFO. Web. 24 Jan. 2016.
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