The Intersection of Incarceration and Injustice: Environmental Burdens in Prison Communities

Date
2022-04-21
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Environmental Justice
Abstract
Background: This study examines environmental justice (EJ) indicators in communities surrounding 165 prisons in 10 U.S. states, contributing to timely and critical discussions of both decarceration and EJ in smaller towns and rural areas of the United States. Methods: Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool (EJSCREEN) was used to characterize environmental burdens in communities surrounding state and federal prisons. Based on findings, brief case studies of five prison communities with multiple EJ concerns are presented. Results: Communities surrounding 40% of the prisons exceeded an 80th percentile threshold EJ Index for one indicator; nearly one-quarter exceeded this threshold for multiple EJ Indexes. The prisons tended to be in less-densely populated areas; only 4% of prisons in these 10 states were in cities. States with higher incarceration rates tended to have a greater number of elevated EJ Indexes for communities surrounding prisons. Discussion: Findings support the existence of many rural EJ communities, and a multitude of pollution sources may contribute to environmental conditions in communities surrounding prisons. Although EJ concerns impact a broad set of stakeholders, prison inmates represent a unique population: involuntary subjects of environmental burdens they are unable to escape during the period of their incarceration. Study findings are also discussed in the context of proposed actions under the Biden Administration's Justice40 Initiative. Conclusion: Intersectional approaches are needed to understand and solve complex problems. This study finds that rural communities, increasingly the sites of prisons, present EJ concerns worthy of further examination.
Description
This is the accepted version of the following article: Saxe, Jennie Perey. “The Intersection of Incarceration and Injustice: Environmental Burdens in Prison Communities.” Environmental Justice, April 21, 2022, env.2021.0083. https://doi.org/10.1089/env.2021.0083, which has now been formally published in final form at Environmental Justice at https://doi.org/10.1089/env.2021.0083. This original submission version of the article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers’ self-archiving terms and conditions. This article will be embargoed until 04/21/2023.
Keywords
prison, environmental justice, rural, EJSCREEN
Citation
Saxe, Jennie Perey. “The Intersection of Incarceration and Injustice: Environmental Burdens in Prison Communities.” Environmental Justice, April 21, 2022, env.2021.0083. https://doi.org/10.1089/env.2021.0083.