On the Outs: Global Capitalism and Transcarceration
Social Justice Blog, April 25, 2022: On the Outs: Global Capitalism and Transcarceration
“On a cold April night back in 2008, I was arrested and charged with two felonies and six misdemeanors. Once inside the jail, awaiting my sentence, I could hear loud banging noises, homies screaming out their barrio (hood), and keys getting closer and closer. Finally, the large metal door with a small window in the center opens. A correctional officer with a mean mug look opens the door to my release.
“After my release, I became engulfed in the criminal injustice system’s constant surveillance by police and reporting to probation officers weekly. To the experience of thousands, if not millions, these two social control mechanisms contribute to the continued incarceration of people released from prison. Therefore, on the outs I didn’t feel free; instead, I felt imprisoned in my community. It became normal. Years later, at the University of California, Santa Barbara, I began to theorize the link between global capitalism and reintegration.
“In fact, the story of reintegration as we see it today is central to the new global capitalist world order as it is manifested in the United States. As an insider who experienced incarceration and reintegration, I strive to find the link between global capitalism, super-incarceration and reintegration, and solutions to abolish these systems, especially global capitalism, which contributes to the massive immiseration of poor communities around the globe.”
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