âMass incarceration on a scale almost unexampled in human history is a fundamental fact of our country todayâperhaps the fundamental fact, as slavery was the fundamental fact of 1850. In truth, there are more black men in the grip of the criminal-justice systemâin prison, on probation, or on paroleâthan were in slavery then. Over all, there are now more people under âcorrectional supervisionâ in Americaâmore than six millionâthan were in the Gulag Archipelago under Stalin at its height.ââAdam Gopnik, âThe Caging of Americaâ