This
paper first defines Internal Periphery
as a theoretical model to analyze Appalachia, and a distinction of Internal Colonialism is discussed.
Secondly, the relationship between Appalachia and the prison system, and how
this relationship is viewed in the context of the Internal Periphery theoretical model. Third, this paper’s goal is a
proposition against the development of the upcoming Federal prison in Letcher County,
Kentucky due to the economic, social, and environmental issues that perpetuate
the inequality within Internal Periphery.
INTERNAL
PERIPHERY AS A THEORETICAL MODEL OF APPALACHIA
In
Internal Colony or Internal Periphery,
Walls (1978) suggests utilizing a theoretical model that describes Appalachia in
a Peripheral context, rather than one
that suggests Appalachians as a colonized people. Internal Colonialism can be applied to Appalachia in the sense that
the outside industrialists have historically established control and domination
over the people within the internal colony (Walls, 1978.) For example, the
process of development of the coal mines and timber companies initiated by
outside interests and absentee ownership that exploited the land of the
internal colony is a form of Internal
Colonialism (Walls, 1978.) In fact, based on the Appalachian Land Ownership Study, a disproportionate amount of land
is owned and operated by outside capitalists (Eller, 2008.) However, it does
not fit Appalachians because there was a subordination of the lower class,
rather than a subordination based on race. Secondly, the Internal Colonialism model does not capture the understanding of
Appalachia as it applies to Africans enslaved and shipped to America, the
genocide of Native Americans, and conquered Mexicans (Walls, 1978.) Thus, this
paper will only refer to rural Appalachia in the context of the Internal Periphery as a theoretical
model to understand the impact of rural prisons and a proposal against the
Letcher County, Kentucky Federal Prison.
Subsequently,
based on Immanuel Wallerstein’s Internal
Periphery model, there is a three-tiered system (Core, Semi-Periphery or
Intermediate, and Periphery) in advanced capitalist societies that reflects the
sub regions of Appalachia (Couto, 2007; Walls, 1978.) Wallerstein described the
capitalist system as global changes driven by the exploitation of Peripheral
countries by Core countries through an international division of labor
(Longhofer & Winchester, 2012.) While the Core is a strong state
institution, Periphery are the providers of material and cheap sources of
labor, and the Semi-periphery is manipulated by the Core’s interests, thus providing
a stabilizing force in global struggle (Longhofer & Winchester, 2012.) In
other words, Core countries like the United States extract labor and raw
materials from Peripheral countries within Africa, while the Semi-periphery
within China assemble those materials (Longhofer & Winchester, 2012.) Despite
the interconnectedness of trade within the global market, Wallerstein says that
capital only accumulates within the Core countries thus perpetuating
inequalities towards the Periphery and Semi-Periphery (Longhofer &
Winchester, 2012.) Walls (1978) describes the Semi-Periphery’s
political-economic function as a low-wage productive industry for the Core’s
capital investment. For instance, the United States pays low wages to workers
in China that make cheap clothes, then the United States’ fashion industry
profits from its consumers that pay a higher price than it took to make the
clothes.
While
theorists can ascribe the United States as a Core country, there is division of
labor within the United States. Because this paper’s focus is on Appalachia
with an emphasis on Kentucky, we cannot simply ascribe rural Appalachia and
Kentucky as being part of the Core that is ascribed to the United States. In
fact, Couto (2007) of Appalachia, says that Central Appalachia (Kentucky) is
the Periphery or Outside region, while Northern and Southern Appalachia
reflects the Semi-Periphery or Intermediate regions (Couto, 2007 & Walls,
1978.) In other words, the regions encapsulate their own economic wealth, but
the Core and Semi-Periphery regions develop boundaries to creating an economic
relationship, and so goods flow from the Semi-Periphery region to the Core
region (Couto, 2007.) On the other hand, the Semi-Periphery and outside Periphery
have a more rigid political friction and cultural conflict (Couto, 2007) when
resources are going out of the region instead of being distributed to the outside
Periphery region. In capitalism, when goods are cheap then too the wages of the
workers, so there is exploitation of people and resources of the Semi-Periphery
and Periphery regions while the Core region profits.
INTERNAL
PERIPHERY WITHIN RURAL APPALACHIA’S PRISON SYSTEM
To
understand the relationship of rural Appalachia and its prison system, one must
recollect the Internal Periphery of
the capitalist system discussed previously. Recounting the once booming coal
industry of Appalachia that has been pulled apart over the years, is finding
the economic system having devastating affects simultaneously (Maggard, 2007.)
In fact from this shift within Appalachia, state governments are finding it
hard to create jobs that are simultaneously a source of cheap labor for
outsider companies (Maggard, 2007.) Thus, rural areas face hard choices to
continue to build infrastructure by outside interests in order to create jobs
within the region. One of those choices is building prisons. Because rural
regions contain poor counties that need money, like Kentucky, they justify
using the prison system as a way to create a jobs program (Richards, Austin,
& Jones, 2004.) Also because rural areas seek to provide quick job
opportunities on a large scale, prisons are one of the three leading economic
enterprises in the region (Huling, 2002.)
According to Huling (2002), a
prison opened in rural and small town communities every 15 days, equating to 245
prisons built between
1990 and 1999 within rural America. Before then, 36% of prisons were built in
rural and small town communities (Huling, 2002.) Since then, the majority of
new prisons are located in rural areas, due to the rise in the U.S. prison
population which has forced prisons and prisoners to be located outside of
non-metropolitan areas (i.e. in the most depressed rural areas) (Huling, 2002.)
Creating more prisons is a way to alleviate the over-crowdedness of other
prisons due to the 2.2 million people behind bars (Mazurek, 2016.) As of now,
the potential Letcher County, Kentucky Federal prison will become the sixth
federal prison in eastern Kentucky alone! (Mazurek, 2016.)
In
Transforming Places: Lessons from
Appalachia, the creation of jobs takes priority over other peoples’ lives,
while there is simultaneously priority of job creation over the environment
(Fisher & Smith, 2012.) Fisher and Smith (2012), state how the
“‘development’ in rural Appalachian areas has at times taken form as prison
complexes, which provide jobs to rural whites who facilitate the containment of
incarcerated, disproportionately poor, disproportionately black and Latino men
and women from distant urban areas” (p. 271.) Huling (2002) similarly states
that prisons are a ‘growth industry’ in rural America at the expense of “using
black bodies to sustain white rural economies” (p. 7.) This phenomenon reflects
the Internal Periphery of Appalachia
where the few economic solutions resort back to outside dominate corporate
interests. These tactics of slavery veiled as growth and industry, as Huling
(2002) and Fisher and Smith (2012) have suggested, hold priority over the
social and environmental issues surrounding industrialization, specifically the
social issues surrounding prisons which is further discussed below.
PROPOSITION
AGAINST LETCHER CO., KY FEDERAL PRISON
Using the Internal
Periphery theoretical model, the proposition against the Letcher County,
Kentucky Federal Prison is further discussed here based on the economic,
social, and environmental issues surrounding the development of the prison.
Economic
issues
Appalachia
is treated as the Periphery (outside)
region that will house incarcerated people from the Core regions. It is a way
to keep the Core regions purified of the ugliness of the world—and to keep the
eyesore that is prisons and other cruel industries alike—out of the sight of
the Core regions. Internal Periphery
can account for the economic issues of the prison, much how coal companies,
textile mills, the timber industry, and absentee landowners extracted the
resources of the region, then sent the resources to wealthier areas, leaving
little in return for taxes to go to education and public health within that
region (Couto, 2007.) Consequently, $444 million tax dollars was allocated towards
the Letcher County prison (Washington, 2016.) Tax money is still going to house
incarcerated individuals, which means for every dollar going to the prison, is
another dollar taken away from education (Hurling, 2002.) Indeed, between 1986
to 2013, states increased spending on K-12 education by 69% and higher
education increased by 6%, while funding for corrections increased by 141%
(Harris, 2016.)
There
is a notion that we must be a society dependent on infrastructure for job creation. For
instance, the persuading arguments for the development of the Letcher County
Federal Prison is to create hundreds of jobs. But, in this context, it is symbolic
of the dependency for work that simultaneously profits from caging people. Not
only that, but previous research has confirmed that prisons do little to
increase employment and/or make economic improvements to the region (Hurling,
2002; Washington, 2016.) The prediction that the Letcher Country prison will
create hundreds of jobs may be naïve. For instance, a New York prison in 1999
predicted 750 jobs would be created, but it ended up only providing 100 jobs
(Hurling, 2002.) Though even 100 prison positions or less would potentially be helpful
to the area; this may take away jobs from other community members if the prison
uses free or low wage labor on community work. For example, local
governments and other organizations save money on work done by prison labor
that pay little or no money, where they would have otherwise had to contract
out workers at a higher wage (Hurling,
2002.)
Thus, jobs for the community may be replaced or displaced by prison labor,
which in turn negatively affects the local economy (Hurling, 2002.) Another
aspect of the economic issues prisons will have on local businesses, is that
businesses tend to avoid locating themselves near a prison, thus will leave the
region—further affecting the local economy (Hurling, 2002.)
Although
crime rates are down (Richards, Austin, & Jones, 2004), the prison
population continues to grow due to the incarceration of nonviolent drug
offenses (Fisher & Smith, 2012.) And while Kentucky’s crime rate is below
the national average, its prison population is growing, and is suspected to
continue to grow (Richards, Austin, & Jones, 2004.) This phenomenon is an
economic and social issue because this means that Kentucky will continue to use
tax dollars towards caging people instead of putting tax dollars towards
long-lasting social programs that prevent the “Perpetual Prisoner Machine” as
Richards, Austin, and Jones (2004) refers to Kentucky’s prison system. The
prison system itself is not a reflection on the cruelty of people, and instead
it is the reflection of a society that has failed women and men of education,
employment, opportunity, and freedom.
Social
issues
Furthermore, prisons “have
detrimental effects on the social fabric and environment of rural communities”
(Hurling, p. 1, 2002) which will be further discussed in terms of perpetuating
racism and poverty. What is typically not mentioned in the conversation on
incarceration is that half of all people in prison are in for a nonviolent drug
use or distribution. Others incarcerated are also affected by the
militarization of police (or over-policing of urban areas) that is perpetuated
by racist and classist laws. For instance, racial disparities are prevalent in
the prison system (Cummings, 2012; De Giorgi, 2016; Erikson, 2014; Snyder,
2015; Ulmer, Painter-Davis, & Tinik, 2016; Ward et al., 2016; Welch, 2003.) This means social and racial control
are encoded in drug laws (Cummings, 2012; Snyder, 2015; Ulmer, Painter-Davis,
& Tinik, 2016; Welch, 2003.) Many activists, including Michelle Alexander
have claimed the prison system to be the New Jim Crow (Mazurek, 2016.) Racial
disparities in prison persists because the prison population does not reflect
the United States population, where 37% and 22% of African American and
Hispanic men make up the prison population (De Giorgi, 2016.) Young, Black men
are 10 times more likely than White men to be in state or federal prison (De
Giorgi, 2016.) Among the many social issues with prison, the very real and
overarching factor is racism in law enforcement and the criminal justice
system. The outcome of the population in prison means housing the most
vulnerable and marginalized groups of people: the poor, low educated, addicted,
and mentally ill people that need social programs not prison.
Along
similar lines of racial disparity within the prisons, is the racism specifically
in rural prisons that are prevalent of the White prison guards (Huling, 2002.)
The racism purported by the White guards further distances themselves from
prison guards of color, affecting the performance and solidarity of prison
guards, and thus creating a corrosive work environment for everyone (Huling,
2002.) One example for instance was where the White guards would tie nooses
around their key chains to symbolize lynching Black bodies thus promoting an
association with the Klan (Hurling, 2002.)
In
addition to the economic issues, racial injustice, and the social issues
discussed so far, one other aspect of the devastating effects of prisons is a
simultaneous increase of children in foster care. For instance, with the rise
of drug use and parents caught using or selling drugs, more parents are behind
bars—filling up federal and state prisons, thus social services found an
increasing number of children in foster care (Fisher & Smith, 2012.) With
that being said, the proposition against the Letcher County prison is also in
part due to the environmental issues explored below.
Environmental
issues
Much
opposition of the prison is because of the health hazard. The Bureau of Prisons
plans to build the Letcher County prison on top of another former coal mine (Mazurek,
2016; Washington, 2016.) The Federal Bureau of Prisons did release an
Environmental Impact Statement, however the “potential negative impact of the
active surface and underground mine and coal slurry impoundment” were not
addressed with regard to the health of prisoners and prison guards (Mazurek,
2016, p. 21.) Mazurek (2016) also states that the final report said there were
no risks to health because there are no active coal mines on the proposed site,
however, Mazurek found that there were two active mines, where one was located
a half mile south of the site of the proposed prison, and one two miles north. Despite
this, the fact that the region has some of the highest lung cancer rates and is
linked to some of the highest coal production numbers is a cause for concern
(Mazurek, 2016.) But according to Hurling (2002), prisons are not always
required to conform to all of the environmental regulations and standards.
Moreover,
even if the site is safe from health hazards from the previously existing coal
mine that the prison is replacing, the construction of the Letcher County
prison will potentially affect the ecosystem of the Lilly Cornett Woods,
according to Mazurek (2016.) For instance, the prison after development will
use copious amounts of water (some four million gallons of water daily), and be
responsible for the raw sewage created by over a thousand prisoners, guards,
and other staff members (Mazurek, 2016.) In addition, the heavy machinery used
will affect the roads, while the development of the prison will cause noise
pollution, and eventually call for flood lighting on the property (Mazurek,
2016.)
Likewise,
the construction of the Letcher County Prison reminds activists of the horrible
conditions of Rikers Island in New York City, which stands atop a landfill that
continues to emit methane (Washington, 2016.) Additionally, Pennsylvania’s
State Correctional Institution is amongst 40 million tons of coal waste dump
(Washington, 2016.) This is typical for many prisons, but it goes unnoticed
(Washington, 2016) because there isn’t concern for the health of people that
are perceived to be doing wrong. The many examples of the strategic placement
of prisons reflects how society values prisoner’s lives. Considering the
placement of prisoners on waste sites, this is a metaphor for how the prisoners
are viewed: as waste.
CONCLUSION
Appalachia
as the Periphery refers to the region
as the ‘outside’ being used to facilitate projects for the Core region. The
paper highlights the Letcher County, Kentucky Federal Prison as the project
which will cage 1,200 people from different surrounding regions. As discussed,
the prison potentially can have long lasting economic, social, and
environmental effects. For instance, the development of the Letcher County
Federal prison potentially can have devastating effects on the economy of the
region rather than stimulating job creation. The prison may also have
environmental effects on the prisoners and guards due to the previous existence
of the coal mine waste site which the prison will be replacing.
Additionally,
the prison may reap social inequality considering those who are forced into the
prison system are the most marginalized population. This means, those who enter
prison need social programs, not prison, because the prison population is made
up of addicted, poor, people with low levels of education and mental illness,
which exacerbates these factors while in prison. And those that are
disproportionately incarcerated are persons of color, meaning that the White
population doing “crime” are those that are ignored by law enforcement, which
perpetuates institutionalized racism. But
these issues are of secondary concern when the Core regions benefit the most
from exploitation of the Periphery’s people and the resources. The upcoming
Letcher County Federal prison, Kentucky is not extracting resources to provide
to the Core region, and instead the Core region is extracting their incarcerated
peoples to house in the Periphery.
Although
this paper proposes against the development of the Letcher County, Kentucky
Federal Prison, this is not an invitation for any prisons to be developed. The
goal should not to be to continually grow the infrastructure for prisons.
Considering crime rates are at a low, and the majority of the prison population
consists of drug use and distribution, and other nonviolent offenses, there is
a need for a needs-based or risk-based social programs offered for free to the
public. Prison is a cage in any form which drives people and animals to mental
health issues. It is not humane to cage anyone or anything. But additionally,
prison makes it harder to people to obtain a job later, and wears on the
internal being of a person like stripping a person of their dignity into a
shell.
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