Jay Z writes article arguing the US criminal justice system is stalking black men like Meek Mill

He used jailed artist as a prime example

Jay Z was inspired to speak up because of Meek Mill's imprisonment (Getty Images)

To hear Jay Z tell it, Meek Mill’s imprisonment this month is the product of a justice system stacked against black men, and one that actively seeks to keep those men in the criminal system as long as possible.

In a new op-ed for the New York Times, the acclaimed rapper laid out a pretty clear case: Meek Mill’s debut in the criminal justice system started with a drug and gun possession conviction when he was 19. And, eleven years later, he’s now facing two to four years in prison for violating his probation.

Meek Mill, Jay Z notes, has effectively been on probation his entire adult life.

The prison sentence comes even though prosecutors and Meek Mill’s probation officer both recommended that he not serve more jail time. The judge overruled those recommendations, slapping taxpayers in Philadelphia — Meek Mill’s hometown — with the bill, which Jay Z estimates in the tens of thousands a year.

“What’s happening to Meek Mill is just one example of how our criminal justice system entraps and harasses hundreds of thousands of black people every day,” Jay Z wrote. “I saw this up close when I was growing up in Brooklyn during the 1970s and 1980s. Instead of a second chance, probation ends up being a land mine, with a random misstep bringing consequences greater than the crime. A person on probation can end up in jail over a technical violation like missing a curfew.”

The musician noted that black people are sent to prison for probation and parole violation at much higher rates than white people. As of 2015, a third of the 4.65 million Americans on parole or probation were black, he wrote.

“Probation is a trap and we must fight for Meek and everyone else unjustly sent to prison,” Jay Z wrote.

Beyond probation, black people are incarcerated in the United States criminal justice system at a rate five times that of white people. To put that number in perspective, if African Americans and Hispanics — who, combined, make up 32 per cent of the US population but 56 per cent of those incarcerated — were to be jailed at the same rates as white people, the prison and jail populations in the United States would drop by almost 40 per cent.