American Prisons: The Caging of Human Rights

A recent interview with Rutgers’ cultural historian Professor Bruce Franklin not only emphasized the need for prison transformation but made the explicit connection between anti-black and brown policies and voting manipulation.

Dr. Franklin pointed to voter disenfranchisement of those with felony convictions as benefiting George W. Bush’s second presidential election. “This felony disenfranchisement was used to elect George W. Bush in 2000. In Florida alone, more than 400,000 citizens, mainly African-American were stripped of their vote, thus allowing Bush to win that state by 527 votes, thereby granting him the White House. The so-called “War on Drugs” is actually a War on the Poor, especially black and brown people.”

Dr. Franklin goes on to address what he calls the “normalization of torture” in addressing U.S. prison policies.  “To understand the depth of the both racial inequalities in the American prison system and how it has been used to normalize torture, it is necessary to recognize the roots of the prison system in African-American slavery.”  Dr. Franklin traces the history of torture, particularly how torture was a necessary tool for maintaining slavery.  The culture of torture is evidenced in the modern day prison system.  

“Sexual humiliation is the norm, and rape is endemic. A 1999 Amnesty International report documented the commonplace rape of prisoners by guards in women’s prisons. Prisoners are forced to walk around naked in front of guards of either sex. ”  Dr. Franklin then traces the direct line between sexual humiliation in prison practices and similar torture at Abu Ghraib.

To read the entire interview with Dr. Franklin, click here.