Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Money from Mass Incarceration

by Tara Herivel (Editor), Paul Wright (Editor)

Overview

“No country in history has ever handed over so many inmates to private corporations. This book looks at the consequences” (Eric Schlosser, bestselling author of Fast Food Nation).
 
In Prison Profiteers, coeditors Tara Herivel and Paul Wright “follow the money to an astonishing constellation of prison administrators and politicians working in collusion with private parties to maximize profits” (Publishers Weekly). From investment banks, guard unions, and the makers of Taser stun guns to health care providers, telephone companies, and the US military (which relies heavily on prison labor), this network of perversely motivated interests has turned the imprisonment of 1 out of every 135 Americans into a lucrative business.
 
Called “an essential read for anyone who wants to understand what’s gone wrong with criminal justice in the United States” by ACLU National Prison Project director Elizabeth Alexander, this incisive and deftly researched volume shows how billions of tax dollars designated for the public good end up lining the pockets of those private enterprises dedicated to keeping prisons packed.
 
“An important analysis of a troubling social trend” that is sure to inform and outrage any concerned citizen, Prison Profiteers reframes the conversation by exposing those who stand to profit from the imprisonment of millions of Americans (Booklist).
 
“Indispensable . . . An easy and accessible read—and a necessary one.” —The San Diego Union-Tribune
 
“This is lucid, eye-opening reading for anyone interested in American justice.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“Impressive . . . A thoughtful, comprehensive and accessible analysis of the money trail behind the prison-industrial-complex.” —The Black Commentator

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781595584540
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	05/05/2009
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	671,214
Product dimensions:	5.52(w) x 8.22(h) x 0.91(d)

About the Author

Tara Herivel is an attorney in Oregon. She is a co-editor, with Paul Wright, of Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Money from Mass Incarceration (The New Press) and a co-author, also with Paul Wright, of Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America’s Poor. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Paul Wright is the founder and editor of Prison Legal News. He is a co-editor, with Tara Herivel, of Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Money from Mass Incarceration (The New Press) and a co-author, also with Tara Herivel, of Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America’s Poor. Wright is the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center and a winner of the National Lawyers Guild Arthur Kinoy Award. He lives in Lake Worth, Florida.

Table of Contents

Introduction   Tara Herivel     ix
The Political Economy of Prisons
Banking on the Prison Boom   Judith Greene     3
Million-Dollar Blocks: The Neighborhood Costs of America's Prison Boom   Jennifer Gonnerman     27
Doing Borrowed Time: The High Cost of Backdoor Prison Finance   Kevin Pranis     36
Making the "Bad Guy" Pay: Growing Use of Cost Shifting as an Economic Sanction   Kirsten D. Levingston     52
Prisons, Politics, and the Census   Gary Hunter   Peter Wagner     80
Don't Build It Here: The Hype Versus the Reality of Prisons and Local Employment   Clayton Mosher   Gregory Hooks   Peter B. Wood     90
The Cultural Commodification of Prisons   Paul Wright     98
The Private Prison Industry
Prison Labor Fuels American War Machine   Ian Urbina     109
On the Inside with the American Correctional Association   Silja J. A. Talvi     119
Jails for Jesus   Samantha M. Shapiro     128
Florida's Private Prison Industry Corporation Under Siege   David M. Reutter     141
Making Out Like Bandits
Behind Closed Doors: Privatized Prisons for Youth   Tara Herivel     157
Sick on the Inside:Correctional HMOs and the Coming Prison Plague   Wil S. Hylton     179
Private Health Care in Jails Can Be a Death Sentence   Paul von Zielbauer     204
The Riot Academy: Guards Stage Mock Prison Riots to Test the Latest High-Tech Gear   Jennifer Gonnerman     228
Mapping the Prison Telephone Industry   Steven J. Jackson     235
Shocked and Stunned: The Growing Use of Tasers   Anne-Marie Cusac     250
For-Profit Transportation Companies: Taking Prisoners and the Public for a Ride   Alex Friedmann     265
Author's Note     285
Acknowledgments     287
Contributors     289
About PLN     296
Notes     297
Permissions     324

Editorial Reviews

"Lucid, eye-opening." —Publishers Weekly

"No country in history has ever handed over so many inmates to private corporations. This book looks at the consequences." —Eric Schlosser, bestselling author of Fast Food Nation

"Impressive. . . . A thoughtful, comprehensive and accessible analysis of the money trail behind the prison-industrial complex." —Blackcommentator.com

From the Publisher