Over the last several years, we have experienced a surge in bystander videos of incidents of police brutality directed largely at Black men. Public outrage surrounding police action continues to increase. As public discourse around police brutality and racial inequality largely centers on specific events, there is less information within the public discourse about systemic racism and how race and racism pervade every single aspect of American life. The ways in which Black people are often treated by law enforcement is reflective of larger historical racial inequities and injustices that extend far beyond the criminal justice system and intersect with how Black people access housing and occupy public spaces.

Imprisoned focuses on contemporary systemic racism as it relates to the ways in which our criminal justice system intersects with our housing system to create a matrix of inequality. To illustrate the systemic nature of racism in American policing and communities, this book highlights the policies and practices that were put in place during slavery and after Reconstruction that connect to instances of structural racism in contemporary America. This book demonstrates how foundational policies in American history continue to work to the detriment of Black Americans—tying the racist foundations of America to discrimination in our criminal justice system and neighborhoods.