“End of the Line: Tracing Racial Inequality from School to Prison” is about the school to prison pipeline as well as connections in harsh policing of minorities starting as early as childhood. Lizbet Simmons details several key examples including statistics of punitive disciplinary measures in schools, the opening of a Prison School in New Orleans, as well as instances of change in Louisiana public schools.
School policing is outpacing all other fields of law enforcement in terms of growth with the usage of technologies similarly found in our prison system. The implementation of tough on crime policies has led to the targeting of minority students who are often labeled as problematic or “problem students”. “Urban schools serving minority students have instituted more punitive disciplinary measures than suburban schools serving primarily white students.” (Planty et al. 2008) (217) Schools with a majority of black students have increased surveillance, guards, and metal detectors than their white counterparts. The institution of zero tolerance policies mirror that of carceral institutions, additionally criminalizing and targeting minority students. While these were intended to produce equitable results with equal evaluation, these investigations are subject to interpretation and discretion as Simmons states. Minority students are labeled as disruptive and delinquent and are judged for social and cultural capital compared to that of their white counterparts. This goes back to what Professor Simpson was saying how you can’t be “Colorblind” and fair as it ignores the racism and history of the marginalized communities. These policies led to increased suspension and exclusion rates which diminish students’ opportunities to receive high school diplomas and skills that benefit them when they enter the job market. Simmons refers to this labeling of minority students as “criminal” and how these unfair punishments pushes them to illegitimate and punishable labor markets, leading to a “self fulfilling” prophesy”. She touches on the key term of Socioeconomic Marginalization which is the relegation to the fringes of society due to a lack of access to rights, resources, and opportunities. The parties affected the most by socioeconomic marginalization are historically black males. “Nationally, males are twice as likely as females to be suspended from school, and black students are over three times more likely than white students to be suspended and expelled.” (National Center for Education Statistics 2004) (219)
In 2002, a New Orleans sheriff named Charles Foti opened a public school at the Orleans Parish Prison which consisted of African American males who were “at risk” for delinquency due to having committed a series of non-violent offenses such as tardiness or disrespectful behaviors. Foti opened the school to “help young people before they take the wrong turn” with the students ranging from ages 12 to 17. Simmons states “Among the defenses were a tall fence and surveillance cameras mounted on the upper corners of the building. The windows were covered with bars, bulky enough to minimize the passage of natural light and diminish fenestration.” (221) From this description it is easy to see the exactly learning conditions of these young boys. While it was considered a public school, there was a lack of public access and reporters were ushered out of the facility on site. There were instances of violent punishment where students were hung against the wall, choked, placed into solitary confinement, and other harsh punitive measures. Simmons noted that “the strict disciplinary approach of the prison school was not matched by academic rigor.” (223) The school had few educational resources, lacked an established curriculum, and the instructors were held to low personal educational standards. Many of the students were sent to prison school as a second chance after having been expelled for poor attendance. “The punishment of expulsion for absenteeism is counterproductive as it institutionalizes the absence it is intended to punish.” (225) The prison school was disbanded by after Albert “Chui” Clark led activists to continually protest until they were heard by the school board.
School dropouts are increasingly vulnerable to incarceration with 41.2% of African American and 7.2% of white high school drop outs. This emphasizes the importance of education in preventing increased incarnation rate. Additionally there is a connection between minority status as well. Louisiana has the nation’s highest suspension rates in the country as of the time of this article however Louisiana’s school system after Hurricane Katrina remains a key example of how change can be implemented in public schools. Following the traumatic events of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans’ public schools were given a second chance to reform their educational systems to provide local children with a better education than before the disaster. One school, John McDonogh High School which was named after a New Orleans slave owner, served as a prime example of an institution with a “prison-like” atmosphere. Police officers and security guards outnumbered teachers by 50%, there were sweeps of tardy students resulting in suspensions, and mandatory drugs tests. A group called the Fyre Youth Squad set out to change these conditions by petitioning the elementary and second education school boards for change. Simmons credits the Fyre Youth Squad with “altering the disciplinary landscape of schooling in New Orleans.” (234) This serves as an example for positive possibilities of change that can take place within institutions.
The overall sentiment is that harsh punitive measures in educational institutions lead only to the rise of incarnated individuals and more crime in the United States. By increasing general investments in education, we can lower rates of incarceration and break the cycle of radicalized school failure and correctional vulnerability.
Note: It was interesting for me to read this given that I went to McDonogh School in Owings Mills, MD which was founded by John McDonogh like in the article.
I was particularly struck by Lizbet Simmon’s discussion of “zero tolerance” policies in schools. She emphasized that the official justification for these policies is the need to treat all students equally, and, therefore, fairly. However, as she emphasizes, these policies merely further increase inequality in minority students’ treatment within the school system. Minority students suffer under these policies as they are more likely to be the victims of these intense rules. Subsequently, these policies institutionalize certain forms of punishment that hinder the potentially positive impact of education; “zero tolerance” policies take kids— and often the kids who need it the most both socially and economically— out of the classroom and disrupt their education. In doing so, these policies disrupt children’s educational paths and catalyze the path of incarceration. As Simmons notes, this then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you exclude children from the classroom and diminish their ability to learn and develop skills that could lead to future employment, then you provide them with few positive options. As Emma illustrated, the institutionalization of “zero tolerance” policies mirror carceral institutions and target minority students. Minority students are considered delinquent and judged for their misbehavior at an extraordinarily negative rate in comparison to their white counterparts. While the school to prison pipeline is not a new concept to me, the specific example Simmons illustrated truly highlighted the complexity of the issue and the existence of carefully-organized institutions that further these issues.
I was truly unaware of the existence of institutions like the Prison School in New Orleans. In my mind, prior to reading this article, juvenile detention and schools— or all educational institutions—- were completely separate entities. Although I was aware of the school-to-prison pipeline reality, I was not aware that juvenile detention centers masqueraded as schools. The Prison School in New Orleans is clearly an example of an institution that masquerades as a school but in actuality neither teaches nor has the capacity to teach students properly. Educational resources were not even a consideration in the construction of this program. The idea that education was the least considered realm in the construction of a school poses, to say it lightly, a serious problem. These individuals, who may have exhibited problematic behavior or minor infractions, are the individuals who can most benefit from proper education. Forcing them to spend valuable educational hours (12 hours a day) in a dark, barred environment where they are subjected to emotional and oftentimes physical abuse impacts their ability to see the true value they could provide in the workforce. These students— all African American males ages 12 to 17— were not given another educational option. Simmon’s emphasizes one mother’s assertion that her son was forced to attend what students considered to be “a jailhouse” for school or not attend school at all.
Another surprising aspect of the reading was Simmon’s discussion of the overall failure of the public education system in the city of New Orleans. Simmons emphasizes that the school system in New Orleans is clearly segregated, with the public school system mostly comprised of low income African Americans and the private system mostly comprised of affluent whites. Simmons highlights that the New Orleans schools are the second worst in all of Louisiana; “in 2000, over 60 percent of students who reached high school graduation failed the exit exam in science and math [and] over 55 percent failed the exam in social science [and] over 41 percent failed English.” As Simmons emphasizes, the severity of this failure is rooted in the reality that it is concentrated in the African American youth population— who constitute 93 percent of public schools in the city. While I wasn’t necessarily surprised at the intensity of this segregation, I was surprised at the intensity of educational failure. It appears that even if these young African American males were not forced to attend the Prison School, the quality of their education would have most likely still been less than adequate. As many of our readings have emphasized, high-quality schools— both in education and environment— are often the solutions to high incarceration rates and a myriad of connected societal and economical concerns. The illustration of just how terribly certain schools in the US perform makes me less hopeful that schools can truly achieve this function without significant federal funding and oversight.
I thought the focus on New Orleans and Louisiana was interesting because I wasn’t familiar with the educational issues they are facing there. Simmon’s states that the expulsion rate in Louisiana is 5.5 times hgihes than the national average and that in some New Orleans schools more than 30 percent of the student body may be suspended in a given academic year. Interestingly, in 2002 a local white sheriff opened a public school at a prison! They then assigned African American boys to the prison school because they were “at risk for delinquency”, when they had very small infractions such as being tardy. Shockingly they had to go to this prison-school for 12 hours a day. She also delves into the role of systemic policies, such as “zero tolerance” and increased police presence in schools, in exacerbating this issue. These policies often criminalize minor infractions and disproportionately target marginalized communities, perpetuating a cycle of inequality. This dynamic can lead to the criminalization of minor infractions that could otherwise be addressed through counseling or other non-punitive measures. She also cites the increased presence of law enforcement officers within schools as a contributing factor to the school-to-prison pipeline. This clearly shows the racist leanings of punishment in schools and how it disproportionately affects African Americans and continues the cycle of injustice. Simmons links this treatment in public school and experiencing the criminal justice system expands their risk of being incarcerated later in life. This reading was great at giving specific examples and highlighting the real life elements and impact of the school to prison pipeline.
Thank you, Emma, for your informative and useful summary. I too was discouraged by the data Simmons provides as examples in society of the manifestation of that term ‘socioeconomic marginalization’. One piece of evidence that I found really compelling was the role of the media in propagating this distorted image of young people and their relationship with crime and education. Simmons writes, “It is a common perception, cast in part by the media’s portrayal of youth in the dichotomies of victimization and predation, that schools are dangerous places and that school security has been accelerated in response to real increases in crime” (216). The discrimination of students in minority groups is not perpetuated without reason; rather, it is the use of media – both social and written – that arbitrarily and unfairly places students into dangerous environments. Another observation I made of Simmons’ work, beyond what the comments above me have discussed, has to do with the fact that data, contrastingly, shows “schools are not only safe, when compared to spaces outside of school, but may also be getting safer” (216). The decline in school crime began occurring before strict safety measures were put in place and thus can prove zero tolerance policies are not the sole initiator. Another example of a misperception of this topic is detailed in Simmons’ reference to Sheriff Foti’s editorial. He “confidently point[s] to an imminent danger in physical proximity to these youth, [and] conjured up a phobia of integration and used it as a base to build a rationale for preemptive youth criminalization and incarceration.” Furthermore, “in his formulation, the need for criminal justice intervention is based on youth socioeconomic marginalization rather than proven crime or delinquency. In this way, the criminalization of young low-income minority males, euphemistically categorized as youth populations who are ‘without,’ is enabled by the rhetoric of fear, threat, and risk” (220). The common thread that I notice among these quotes is both misleading information as well as the susceptibility of facts being manipulated. The combination of the two often results in these visibly apparent and harmful segregations.