“The Institution Yet to Come”: Analyzing Incarceration Through a Disability Lens –– Liat Ben-Moshe

It was easy to agree with many of Ben-Moshe’s arguments, especially since I am also not a huge fan of the incarceration politics in the United States. I do believe that there is a need to drastically reduce what constitutes an “incarcerable crime”, and felt like the arguments deftly stated all of this in a firm manner.

However, I could not help but wonder if the ones at fault for the mass incarceration of people with disabilities is not entirely the fault of the “criminal (in)justice system”, but rather, because of society’s anxiety towards disabled individuals. For one, maybe it’s the fact that nondisabled people are ‘afraid’ of the unconventional behaviors of disabled people, as we are trained as a society to never deviate far from the norm (as evident by our standards of beauty, education, etc.). Also, maybe it’s the fact that the care facilities we have set up for the disabled are not enough. Like how a small difference in the educational system can drastically alter a student’s future, I feel like a small difference in the quality and quantity of care facilities can drastically change the outcomes of incarcerations.

Although Ben-Moshe suggests institutionalization as an alternative to the wide variety of enclosement in settings such as prisons, jails, and detention centers, I think it would be better to go even further back in rendering a safe environment for disabled people. Perhaps the problems with incarceration have less to do with even keeping people in detained settings, but rather because we are not working cooperatively as a society to provide equal opportunities to prove oneself.

Incarceration is a scary and often unjust form of ‘punishment’ within a justice system that is geared towards dis-privileging the underprivileged, the poor, and the disabled of our society. It is fundamentally flawed on purpose to befittingly benefit the lawmakers that have created the system. So it is without doubt that it is a hard potion to swallow for many, that their criminal offenses have been made in regard to these flawed laws. However, changing the system is difficult, but changing the society together may be a better solution to resolving issues of mass incarceration of the disabled.