Blog #7: Reflection – How does the prison industrial complex affect marginalized groups

Blog #7: Reflection
1. Address the following questions:
a. What challenges did you overcome throughout this inquiry project? How did you go about
overcoming these challenges? 

Throughout my inquiry project a challenge that I faced was finding information and sources that was both unbiased and that was at a level that I could easily comprehend. Another challenge I ran into during this project was not solely writing from my mind and actually going and finding resources that support and can help answer my question. I think that when you are already a little bit familiar with a subject it is hard not to just write what you know and think without potentially being biased. It is extremely easy to just start writing without thoroughly checking and referencing sources to make sure what you are saying is not just some random stuff you made up in your mind. I had to stop myself a few times during a few of my blogposts to just make sure I am checking various non-biased sources just so that my research can be as accurate as possible,
b. How did this inquiry change the way you think? 

This inquiry changed the way I think about the prison industrial complex. Before this investigation I had really just thought about the prison industrial complex as something that directly harms marginalized groups through mass incarceration, but after further research I now see that the prison industrial complex affects marginalized groups by creating this endless cycle of imprisonment by not giving these marginalized communities the resources they need to succeed.
c. How did this investigation impact your future decisions? 

This investigation has impacted my future decisions in various ways. Firstly, I would like to now make my best effort to avoid products that have been produced using exploitive prison labor, as this is a fairly common practice that I have discovered during this investigation and something that plays a large role in the prison industrial complex. I will also now try to avoid forming decisions solely based on what is being fed to me by the media, because as I discovered, it is not always truthful and can lead to harmful stereotypes about marginalized groups, as well as false notions on crime rates and imprisonment.
d. What impact will this investigation have on others locally and/or globally? 

This investigation can help others in places where the prison industrial complex is present. For example, in places such as the “USA” and “Canada”. I have yet to do research on what other countries the prison industrial complex is present in, but it is something that I am interested in, and would like to investigate. I would like to think that this investigation can impact the way others view the prison industrial complex just as it impacted the way that I view it. Or if people did not have prior knowledge about the prison industrial complex, I think it could impact the way they view policing and imprisonment.