Guards disproportionately punish black and Latino inmates in New York state prisons, reveals a new investigation from the New York Times. While racism in the criminal justice system is no secret, the new report helps quantify the racism that continues behind bars.
Reports show that violent racism is rampant among guards throughout the state, and by analyzing 60,000 disciplinary cases from 2015, the Times has found that black and Latino prisoners are disciplined much more frequently than their white counterparts. In some areas, prisoners of color are disciplined up to twice as often. They are also given solitary confinement more frequently and for longer period of time than white prisoners, the Times found.
The disparity was shown to be higher at maximum security prisons in rural areas, where the population of the surround areas, as well as the prison staff, are majority white. The white officers often don’t know any black or Latino people outside the prison, and one inmate interviewed said the white officers treat black prisoners “like we’re another species.”
“At Clinton, a prison near the Canadian border where only one of the 998 guards is African-American, black inmates were nearly four times as likely to be sent to isolation as whites, and they were held there for an average of 125 days, compared with 90 days for whites,” the Times reports.
Aside from the psychologically and often physically damaging effects of the systemic racism of prisons, the disproportionate discipline also affects an inmate’s chances of getting access to jobs, educational programs, and parole.
Meanwhile, the Times also found a significant exception. At Sing Sing, a prison one hour outside New York City, 83 percent of the officers are either black or Latino. Not only are fewer disciplinary tickets given overall, but there is no racial disparity. Black inmates make up 57 percent of the population at Sing Sing and get 58 percent of the tickets.
Read the full report here.
