The recession may make things worse for formerly incarcerated BIPOC

by Sakshi Udavant

This article was originally published at Prism.

After the pandemic upended the economy, fears of a recession rippled across the country. Economists sounded the alarm, and elected officials like Sen. Elizabeth Warren have questioned the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes and their overwhelming burden on the working class. Inflation woes have already started affecting workers and small businesses in the U.S., and people of color will likely have it worse. Formerly incarcerated individuals, especially formerly incarcerated people of color, may experience this looming recession most harshly as they already struggle to find employment, housing, and educational opportunities.

The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with over 2 million Americans locked up. Black, Indigenous, and other people of color and marginalized communities are overrepresented in these numbers despite being underrepresented in the overall population. For example, more than 75% of the U.S. population is white. Black people represent 12% of the nation’s population, but nearly 40% of incarcerated individuals are Black. Black people are disproportionately incarcerated at nearly five times the rate of white people, and Latinx people are also 1.3 times more likely to be incarcerated than whites.