The racial disparities that exist in state and federal prison systems are a direct result of a long history of racial injustice. Policies like the Black Codes, Jim Crow, systematic disinvestment from communities of color, redlining, and many others have led to the statistics that are referenced by Nazgol Ghandnoosh.

Too often, race is not part of the discussion around reform, and neither is reinvestment, which is what is needed to end mass incarceration. Shrinking the system alone will not solve the problem—but coupling sentence reduction with reinvestment in jobs, healthcare, housing, and education for the communities of color that have been most harmed by criminalization and imprisonment, would be a significant step forward.