How does stevenson argue that the modern day prison systems acts as a continuation of slavery?

Although slavery ended several centuries ago, that did not mean an end to the injustice that is practiced against African Americans, and today against incarcerated people. From statistical data that is shown currently, about incarceration in the United States, two facts jump to the eye, and are fundamental arguments from Brian Stevenson to insist that the system of slavery transformed, rather than disappeared, into the moder system of prisons today.

The first is that, if looked at objectively, the vast amount of incarcerated population are either from African American origin, or other racial minorities. Even if the criminal acts are of the same level, the justice system unfortunately leans much more towards incarceration for African Americans and other minorities, than towards white Americans. Stevenson argues, and has dedicated his life to, ensure better justice for these minorities against whom American law tends to lean more harshly, and punish more harshly, almost as if their origins ensured that they needed harsher punishment to perform as they should, which was a belief that slaveholders had.

The second is that in these prison systems, inmates are forced into a system of work, which they do not have a right to choose, and from which they receive a pay that is even worse than any that today slave workers might receive, and for the double number of hours per day that any normal worker may face. Also, these inmates, even though they should be considered workers, do not have any of the rights, and assurances, that normal laborers would have. This, Stevenson says, proves that the prison system became a new form of slavery; not a solution to criminal problems.

For these, and other reasons, Stevenson argues that modern day prisons systems in the U.S have become a continuation of the slave system that should have ended centuries ago.

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