[gcd]

Mass incarceration, in this case, is the trend in massive upward growth in prison population since 1980 (up 790% federally) and also the way in which we rely on incarceration to deal with social and economic problems - for example, globalization and technological change have drastically transformed the economy and forced poor colored communities into the underground economy. Instead of finding ways to integrate former factory workers into the new economy, we have cut welfare and started locking them up disproportionately.

In short, the United States incarcerates more people per capita than any other country, and we do it because we aren't brave enough to deal with our problems more directly. That is mass incarceration.