Invisible Men: Mass Incarceration and the Myth of Black Progress

For African American men without a high school diploma, being in prison or jail is more common than being employed--a sobering reality that calls into question post-Civil Rights era social gains. Nearly 70 percent of young black men without a high school diploma will be imprisoned at some point in their lives. Another vexing fact of mass incarceration is that most national surveys do not account for prison inmates, a fact that results in a misrepresentation of U.S. political, economic, and social conditions in general and black progress in particular.  

This paper provides an eye-opening examination of how mass incarceration has concealed decades of racial inequality and considers its implications for research on the causes and consequences of health disparities.