NCJ Number
199300
Journal
Prison Journal Volume: 83 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2003 Pages: 3-25
Date Published
March 2003
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This introduction to the articles in this special issue on "American Corrections and Native Americans" examines the historic "web of steel" -- metaphor for the policies and actions of European and American governments that have enslaved the "eagle" spirit of Indian Peoples to be free -- that creates the context of interface between correctional control and American Indian Peoples.
Abstract
From the perspective of many Native Peoples, correctional control, regardless of its form, is viewed as a continuation of Indian subjugation that began in 1492 with Columbus. Various European nations involved in the settlement of the "new world" not only enslaved Indians for labor in the Americas but also stole and sold them into servitude in Europe and for Caribbean plantations. From the late 1880's forward the purposes of Indian boarding schools in America were to destroy the Indian language and culture, to train Indians to be of service to and to live in the white world, and to keep Indians separate from whites. Today, Indian tribes and reservations throughout the United States and Canada are still struggling with the effects of these policies on Indian individuals, families, cultures, and nations. Indian men were faced with another from of servitude, i.e., military draft, as they were expected to fight and die for the United States even through they were not recognized as citizens until 1924. The continuing theft of Indian lands under various U.S. Government schemes was added to the obfuscation of native diversity and the imposition of government hierarchical labels to create further oppression of Indian identity. For many elders from many tribes, life under correctional control was seen as a continuation of events begun in early childhood, when they were taken from their parents and sent to Indian boarding schools. Reservation poverty, lack of job opportunity, racism, and cultures of violence have historically fostered alcohol abuse and crime. Imprisonment leads to a further limitation on Native American healing ceremonies, since very few corrections systems allow the practice of Indian cultural ceremonies or the possession of items Native Americans consider sacred. Further, studies have shown that bias and discrimination against Native Americans and their criminal justice issues continue to exist in academic criminology and government-funded crime research. The goal of the articles in this special issue is to address a variety of issues representative of the diversity among Indian peoples and their interaction with American corrections. 25 notes and 17 references