Incarceration or shall I say Mass incarcerations is dated back to the 1870s.  Yes, we know the infamous year of 1863, the signing of the 13th Amendment. Yes, we should know when slavery was abolished.  But do we realize that the era and practice of using incarceration as the mode to degrade a man, defame a family, destroy a community and control a race of people began shortly after 1865; what was supposed to be “the good life.”

 

By 1870, the practice of incarceration and the repercussions thereof kept slavery alive.  Slave leasing plagued people of color and all other disadvantaged people of America as a result of incarceration.  The destruction of a race of people, via incarceration, continued through Reconstruction *, Jim Crow* and the Civil Rights movement*.

 

Now in the 21st century; The Era of The New Jim Crow*; the concept of incarceration is still that one systematic element that deteriorates the psyche of a man and disallows the success of families. Collateral consequences of incarceration and/or acquiring a criminal record are just as devastating now as in our past. 

 

The mental anguish, defeatism, and anxiety associated with the scarlet letter of “F”-Felony or “M”- Misdemeanor attached to our worth is real. Incarceration or the collateral consequences of having a criminal record ignites the onset of crisis incidents and mental illness episodes daily.

 

About Face International cares, understands and their plan of action for those confronting mental illness in the form of, a variety of anxieties related to returning citizens or overwhelming crisis management is both therapeutic and dynamically real world.

 

Charlton L. Bivins, National Criminal Justice, and Social Reformist

A.S.K. Charter Consulting LLC