An Interactive Documentary
Mass Incarceration in America is not just a result of individual choices and consequences. The system itself is a consequence of disparate yet deliberate choices made by society and government, over centuries, sustained through political and economic pressures, and metting out its ill effects across generation after generation.
This is its history.
The United States stands alone in the world when it comes to its system of mass incarceration. This system was birthed around the same time as the nation that has sustained it. While not the result of some grand, evil plan, the system and the injustices it produces are the result of deliberate choices across society and over centuries: good intentions, legislation, economics, budgets, mandated sentences in pursuit of justice, and at times some very evil and intentional targeting of specific communities. At each step, these choices across society moreoften reinforced social, economic, and racial hierarchies than bringing justice and restoration to communities impacted by crime.
This platform is an attempt to illustrate in poignant ways the millions of lives impacted by mass incarceration, and to help connect the dots through our nation's history to the specific laws, decisions, and the specific mechanisms by which this system of carceral control was built and sustained across generations.
Five Modules
1786–1870
The story begins with two competing philosophies of imprisonment: one built on solitary penitence, one on order, silence, and structured life with labor. Both contributed to laying the ideological and economic groundwork for everything that has followed.
1865–Present
Scroll through 160 years of this nation's history around the legislation, judicial decisions, and inflection points in society and culture that built our unique system of mass incarceration. As you move through the timeline, interactive data elements appear to illustrate the impacts grow in real-time as the machinery of mass incarceration runs.
1870–1970
Follow two subjects in this hypothetical yet probable simulation showcasing how the difference of only race can span across six generations, illustrating the compounding effects of systemic bias and laws turn similar circumstances and actions into wildly different futures many generations later.
Today
In this module, see how quickly the system turns from justice to injustice, resulting in a life getting derailed due to no fault. In this scenario, see how laws in almost all states commonly lead to people getting convicted for serious criminal actions they did not directly commit.
Today & Beyond
The US spends over $81 billion annually on state and federal prisons alone. Explore where that money goes — by sentence length, facility type, and population — then redirect a portion toward evidence-based alternatives and see the projected human and fiscal impact of different choices.
Data Sources
Data sourced from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (National Prisoner Statistics, 1926–2023), Vera Institute of Justice (Incarceration Trends), Prison Policy Initiative ("Whole Pie" analysis), Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, and NBER Working Papers on intergenerational effects of incarceration. All statistics are cited with their primary sources throughout the platform — view the full sources list.