Class Year
2021
Document Type
Student Research Paper
Date of Creation
Spring 2020
Department 1
Africana Studies
Abstract
COVID-19 has exposed a variety of issues and insecurities in our world since its eruption in 2020. While it is heavily discussed, debated and researched, much of the virus’ impact is not covered in communities and areas where marginalized bodies suffer disproportionately. One of the most undermined and blanketed populations in our country during the time of the pandemic (and for decades before) is the prison population, which has seen soaring cases and deaths since the virus first touched down in the states. Much of the prison population consist of black men and women and sadly mirror the same health inequalities their non-incarcerated peers face everyday due to racial disparities within medicine, education, job status and housing. An institution that should be designed to rehabilitate convicts as a positive contribution to society has once again been caught in its blatant strategy to hold black bodies captive with an unfair and racist blueprint to further racial equality. This paper serves to analyze what has led to these disproportionate cases and deaths within prisons and how the industrial prison complex and the long history of racist incarceration policies and agendas have exacerbated the effects of the COVID-19 virus on incarcerated men and women.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Rodriguez, Christian A., "COVID-19: The Industrial Prison Complex and Black Bodies" (2020). Student Publications. 865.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/865
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, Public Health Commons
Comments
Written for AFS 130: Introduction to African-American Studies