We All Pay for Not Addressing the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Terms like “school-to-prison pipeline” and “The New Jim Crow” may sound distant to some, leading them to think that it has little relevance to their lives or communities. However, the reality is far from that perception. The impact of these systemic issues extend beyond the individuals directly affected, seeping into the fabric of the broader society and affecting us all.

Dr. Marcus BrightIt is like being at a dinner at a restaurant with a group of people and you order chicken, one side, and water that amounts to $40 while others order steak, lobster, multiple appetizers, three rounds of drinks, and a dessert that amounts to nearly $300 per person. Then when everyone is done eating and the bill comes, they say “let’s just all split the bill.” You then end up paying five times the amount that your meal costed. You may not have ordered the extra food and beverages, but you are still paying for it.

Similarly, in the context of the school-to-prison pipeline, when a person falls through the cracks of the education system and does not have an avenue to gainful legal pathways to economic subsistence, we all pay for it. The cycle perpetuates as more individuals are funneled into a system that limits their upward mobility, ultimately making the community less safe and prosperous for all.

When parents are not in an economic position to supervise children and provide the developmental support that they need to flourish then we all suffer. When we are spending tremendous amounts of money on incarceration instead of on universal early learning coverage, more mental health professionals for schools, and high-quality tech programming to prepare people for the economy of the future, we all pay for that.

A report, titled "The Cost of Doing Business: Why Criminal Justice Reform Is the Right Investment to Strengthen Mississippi’s Economy and Workforce", provided good examples of the economic costs of mass incarceration and its broader impact as it pertains to how it undermines economic progress by taking people out of the workforce, draining taxpayer resources to the tune of $400 million per year, and producing more people with criminal convictions who have higher rates of unemployment and underemployment after their incarceration.

The report posited that “an overly punitive criminal justice system wastes resources and fails to address people’s real safety and security needs. The collateral costs of spending on Mississippi’s criminal justice system drain critical resources better spent attracting new industries and cultivating economic development.” This narrative should impel us to have a paradigm shift and motivate us to advocate for the redirection of resources towards prevention and not detention.

There are myriad, different ways that colleges and universities can help to bring about solutions to the school-to-prison pipeline. Among them are engaging in collaborative efforts with other entities that focus on enhancing literacy, providing training for high-wage industries, and creating pathways of opportunity for individuals without high school diplomas or GEDs.