While we’ve already explored many of the public health implications of incarceration in “Prison: Where Public Health Goes to Die,” especially in terms of infectious disease, there is another aspect to prison health that goes entirely overlooked: the environment.
What began as a single investigation by the Human Rights Coalition of a single prison--the SCI Fayette--spiraled into recognition of a much greater problem at hand. As it turned out, the SCI Fayette was built next to a coal ash dump including around 40 million tons of waste. The effects of the coal ash led a large population of SCI’s prisoners to fall ill.
Across the nation, prisons are located beside toxic environmental conditions, causing prisoners to be exposed to contaminated drinking water, raw sewage leaks, and pollution.
Some reports found that prisons were built next to landfills, mines, or Superfund sites---highly polluted areas that are contaminated by hazardous materials, as recognized by the government.
What does this have to do with environmental justice?
Environmental justice is the concept that combines the preservation of nature and the equitable access of clean land, air, water, and food in the face of systemic discrimination. The most prominent example of a situation in which the term “environmental justice” applies is the Flint Water Crisis.
Flint, Michigan
About nine years ago, Flint residents reported odd odors and colors coming from the water in their homes. As it turned out, the water was poisoned with high levels of lead, which was the result of several regulation failures. For one, Flint’s water treatment process lacked the necessary control measures, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined.
Additionally, the Flint River was (and is) polluted by industrial dumping from the General Motors company. The justice portion comes into the picture based on Flint’s demographics: a large majority of Flint residents are low-income Black Americans. Thus, the water crisis sat at the intersection of a hazardous public health risk and the discriminant harms on people of color.
Toxic Prisons
Now, there is a greater movement to recognize the environmental injustices perpetuated by carceral systems. SCI Fayette and many other prisons lack monitoring systems for air, water, and soil quality. Inmates across the country have been exposed to toxic metals, lead, mercury, arsenic, and dirty water. Reports have found that many experienced respiratory problems, nosebleeds, rashes, and even cancer.
However, there are several organizations like the Prison Ecology Project and the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons hoping to fight the literal toxicity of American prison systems, which are only increasing in size at a rapid rate. Additionally, the EPA has also moved to promote environmental justice by including prisons as a category in their Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool.
While normally, public health seems corralled to subjects like infectious disease and safe drinking water, it actually deals quite heavily with the environment and the social implications of its degradation. In tandem with the disproportionate incarceration rate of non-white Americans, the health crisis behind bars is one of utmost importance.
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