With the world's highest incarceration rate, a well-funded organization addressing mass incarceration using proceeds from high priced art sales might be just what the United States needs.

The New York art scene is known for a variety of things but racial and social justice don’t necessarily come to mind when thinking about its collectors and patrons. However, Agnes Gund is intent on changing that—one expensive art piece at a time. In January, amid many rumors, she sold her 1962 piece entitled “Masterpiece” by Roy Lichtenstein for $165 million—one of the highest known prices ever paid for a piece of art.

Ms. Gund is confirming that sale now, revealing that she parted with the painting (for what was actually $165 million, including fees) for a specific purpose: to create a fund that supports criminal justice reform and seeks to reduce mass incarceration in the United States. This new Art for Justice Fund — to be announced Monday at the Museum of Modern Art, where Ms. Gund is president emerita — will start with $100 million of the proceeds from the Lichtenstein (which was sold to the collector Steven A. Cohen through Acquavella Gallery).

In addition to her own donation, Gund has challenged her fellow art collectors to donate as well, with the goal of raising $100 million in the next five years. The Art for Justice Fund will partner with organizations that are already doing important work on behalf of ending mass incarceration to fund education, training and, of course, art-related programs.

The fund will make grants to organizations and leaders who already have a track record in criminal justice reform — like the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Ala. — that seek to safely reduce jail and prison populations across the country and to strengthen education and employment opportunities for former inmates. The fund will also support art-related programs on mass incarceration.

Gund says this is a personal issue for her since she has several black grandchildren. While that definitely makes her more sensitive to this issue, it most certainly should not be the only reason she (or anyone else) should care about this. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and blacks are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. That should concern us all.