The “massive $75 billion per year failed experiment”, more commonly known as mass incarceration, is unjust, bias, and a burden to society (Mass Incarceration). According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, 46.3% of federal inmates are in prison for drug offenses. There are more people in federal prisons for drug offenses than for homicide, aggravated assault, kidnapping, sex offenses, weapons, explosions, and arson all combined (Federal Bureau). While nonviolent drug offenders are violators of the law, they are not threats to public safety. Most of the harsh laws that imprison these nonviolent prisoners were put in place in the 1960s-1980s to target black and brown people in the war on drugs. Since then, the number of people incarcerated in America rose from an estimated 500,000 to more than 2.2 million, according to the NAACP (NAACP). That’s more than the population of the entire state of New Mexico (World Population). The government started the war on drugs— an initiative to “stop illegal drug use, distribution, and trade, [in predominantly black and brown neighborhoods] by increasing and enforcing penalties for offenders” (when Nixon declared drug abuse as “public enemy number one”)— over five decades ago and with the help of the school-to-prison pipeline, innocent citizens are rotting away behind bars and between three brick walls — living with the consequences today (History). Therefore, The Department of Justice & The Department of Education needs to help to reform mass incarceration by acting to decriminalize the harsh laws in America for nonviolent drug offenses and discontinuing the school-to-prison pipeline, because black people are being discriminated against within the criminal justice system, preventing them from contributing to American society at their full potential.