Racial Segregation As Part of American Culture and History

“The best of times quickly descended into the worst of times”. There was a point in our time where black and whites were segregated. Buses, schools and water fountains were some of the few memorable moments of discussion within our American court rooms. Land of the free; not so much. During the 1890’s, segregation was at its peak. Laws mandating the separation from basic human rights represented the true meaning of separation. Unlike our society today, there was not a thin line, but a wall of expectations when coming to color. Whites had supremacy, blacks and other people of color were suppressed. Although todays time is a world of difference, the Civil rights act of 1964 created a new world of freedom for America; but it didn’t end there. Segregation remained. Prison systems, up until the 1970’s, were permeated with ‘modern’ day segregation. “First Available cell” is a fine example of the shifting segregated prisons, to anything but.

I would argue that the world of segregation in the prison system is still buoyant. Segregation is a part of the American Culture, especially behind the confined walls of the prison. Gangs such as the Skin heads, Mexican Mafia, Aryan brotherhood, Nazi lowriders, Nuestra familia, and the Trinitario are all examples of modern day prison segregation. Despite the common people knowledge, The First Available Cell presents all aspects of segregation behind the penitentiary. The book provides amazing analysis of segregated prisons transitioning into desegregated ones. The civil rights movement of the 1960’s offered an opportunity for American to unit as one. Despite these efforts, the transition between 1960’s and modern day is an abomination of what today’s children’s taste of freedoms are like. To topic of prison segregation was one, I would argue, the American people know very little about. What if I told you that shortly after the Civil rights act was passed, prison wardens and staff feared that mixing prisoners would unleash a race war within the confined walls of the prison. Although it may seem hard to grasp the topic, this was the reality. The First Available Cell focuses on three major points: “The outside”, “The inside, and “A colorless Society.”

Brown v. The board of Education (1954), I would argue, is one of the most impacting cases in supreme court history, not only for schools, but for business, hospitals, and prisons. Should blacks have the right to attend white schools, drink from the same fountains, sit side by side within a class room? Should blacks have the right to go to the same doctors we do? Should blacks have the right to share a cell with a white person? We all know about the famous supreme court ruling, but what about other aspects. Specifically focusing on Prison’s. Should we mix race inside a place full of violent criminals? What would happen with we put two different races in the same jail cell? Race war? Violence? This is the question on the minds of hundreds of members working inside a prison. Wouldn’t you fear for your life too? Although we know what the inside of a prison might be like; what about the outside. The outside, considering the setting in the 1960’s, was a world full of hate. Every individual knew their place, so how could the government separate us, only to join us? The social context represented can be described as racial hatred. Whites hated blacks, blacks hated Mexicans, Mexicans hated Asians, and a mix between all of those.

In my opinion, I believe the outside world was just as bad as the prisons. I could not picture a world full of racial segregation, to be any different than the world inside prison. I believe one of the most important things regarding the section over “the outside” Is the “Zones of desegregation” model. I would argue that this model represents the transitions of the outside world, effecting the inside world. From the changes in the court decisions to the desegregation of whites, blacks and Hispanics in Texas prisons. “The color line in Texas has been erased”, starting with the desegregation in schools, the United States V. Texas supreme school case, embarked on one of the most extensive desegregation orders in history. The segregation posed in schools, created the ability for prisons and other organizations to be segregated as well. In my opinion, desegregating schools sparked a revolution to impose that if the children could do it, the adults could do it. I found “the outside” sections extremely interesting as it imposes that schools were no different than the insides of prisons. I would argue that this point is true because what is the different between a white and black sitting in a classroom together, and a white and black sitting in a jail cell together. The outside made me understand that every aspect of our world needed to be desegregated before we would be able to desegregate places such as the prison system. The idea of the outside world effecting the decisions made inside the prison were evident. If it was already hard to desegregate the outside would, one could imagen the inside of a prison would be far more complex. This face of difficulty could be represented by stating “the Texas prison system was a place that by and large was insulated from the great social upheaval that roiled across America in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.”

“The inside” was the section that focused on what happened inside the prison system. “The classification and treatment of prisoners based on race emerged early on”. Even though segregation on the outside was ruling out, segregation on the inside was alive and well. I would argue that the prison was one of the worst forms of segregation. It’s hard to imagen a place of racists and violent criminals all coming together. Cooper V. Pate ruled that segregation was unconstitutional but would this supreme case really desegregate the inside of prisons. The answer is no. Segregation within the prison system existed up until 1975 when an investigation ruled that it was prohibited the separate prisoners by race. Because of this, prisons would now interact with each other like never before. Although this law prohibited segregation, forms of segregation were allowed to “Avoid race-based prison violence”. In my opinion, I believe that this just caused more problems. Although, I have to consider the mindset of the people working in the prison and I am sure they feared for their lives.

As time went on, new officers came into the prison with new mindsets, but this didn’t change imamates who had been in prison since the desegregation had taken place. The inside, was nothing like the outside. “The end of racial segregation lead to a surge of gang activity in the cages”. This is an insight that although the efforts of desegregating the prison system were at bay, practices such as gangs developed that are still abundant today. One inmate even stated, “Dis int’gration shit jis ain’t gon’ go down. Black and White people be diff’rent”. I believe that this quote speaks a thousand words. Modern day prison systems are still faced with this same mind set. The goal to desegregate the prison population was never to create racial harmony. I think that is an important thing to understand. No matter the attempt to desegregate the prison’s, it all depended on the individual.

“A colorless Society” represents the true meaning of “by choice”. To put it blunt, I believe that prisons would make a choice on whether to act out based on racial bias. This section explores the results of desegregating the prison population. I believe it an important to understand the results from this. “Desegregation was externally forced upon the prison, suggesting that desegregation did not occur on the cooperative or individual level”. The idea that things should happen one step at a time should be considered. I would argue that the steps taken to desegregate although a long process, proved to be beneficial. I believe that the history of prisons is clearly defined by segregation within the complex. Desegregating men and woman in a jail cell, lead to desegregation on the whole complex. It’s crazy to me that this movement invoked the traditions of the prison system today. “Prisoner desegregation did not lead to any more violence than prisoner segregation”. Wow, that’s hard to believe, considering the process of this book. I would argue that the colorless society is a point in which color has no existence within the walls of a prison. Everyone within the prison commited a crime, thus, all the same.

“The prison is not an autonomous system of power; rather it is an instrument of the state, shaped by its social environment, and we must keep this simple truth in mind if we are the understand the prison” (Gresham; contents). The first available cell presented me with the question of desegregation in prisons, one in which, I did not know existed. This book provided insight to a slow changing social context. Although this book presents the idea of desegregating prisons, there is no question that segregation among racial groups inside the walls still exists today. In my opinion, I believe that the prison system is a whole different culture inside itself that is slow changing. I would argue that the definition of desegregation has merely been altered and not changed. If the American prison system truly wants to be desegregated, it has a long way to go.

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