I'm not sure where you're going with the title, unless your implying imprisonment leads to a quicker death. Which it likely does or at least increases the odds of an early death.
I have couple of theories on the subject of race/inmate population/poverty. The first being what I can only call unintentional racism. I use the word unintentional loosely here. The majority or judges are Caucasian, the majority of inmates are not. It seems hard to believe there's not relation there.
My second theory is drug offenses. I looked for the stats, but was unable to find anything in the time I have right now. I'll look further later. But if I recall, a large percentage of minority prisoners are serving time for minor drug offenses. Possession of Mary J, high on the list. My theory here comes from experience on the streets of L.A.. My Latino and African descent friends have no problem lighting up a blunt standing on a street corner or out in someones front yard. They were far more open about their drug use than my Caucasian friends. Leading to more arrests. Which then lead to more imprisonment due to the factor above. A poor black guy is much more likely to go to prison for having an dime bag, than a white middle class kid with the same thing. I have no stats to back that up, just the experience.
In looking for BOJ statistics I came across this:
BOP: Quick Facts
Oct. 30, 2010 inmate population update. It appears to be Federal prison only. What I found interesting was the reverse population by race.
Inmates By Race
White: 121,155 (57.7 %)
Black: 81,653 (38.9 %)
Native American: 3,766 (1.8 %)
Asian: 3,574 (1.7 %)
At a glance, it appears local/state racism, may in fact be a leading contributor to the racial bias in prisons. And could suggest, as I have above, without the minor drug offenses, the populations would be much more equal.
I'll add more to this later when I have the time.
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