Carceral Displacement: The Root Shock of Mass Criminalization

Abstract

Mindy Fullilove asserts that mass criminalization contributes to root shock. We examine this relationship and the harms of carceral displacement, which fall heaviest on poor and low wealth communities in the US, especially majority Black communities. Despite being only 13 per cent of the US population, almost 50 per cent of those held in state prisons are Black. Guided by Fullilove's research on the harms of urban renewal, we inventory the damage incarceration exacts on health, wealth, and political power. Incarceration is a direct cause of poor health among incarcerated populations and is a fundamental cause of ill health in affected communities. Funding prisons is a form of catastrophic disinvestment that could instead be spent on health, education, and housing. Incarcerated individuals are disenfranchised during and often after their release, thereby diminishing the political power of affected communities. We consider, in the final section of the paper, what the theory of root shock contributes to the process of re-entry, which is when incarcerated individuals return to community. By centring the experience of individuals within both physical and social environments, Fullilove inspires an ecological approach to re-entry, meaning that care for place and in place is essential.