“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

A critical look at the United States' criminal justice system, raising an obvious question: If crime rates aren't going up, why is the prison population?

First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

An award-winning investigative journalist examines increasing rates of women imprisonment in today's America, in a report that draws on interviews with inmates, correctional officers, and administrators to offer insight into the societal impact of female incarceration. Original.

A meticulous, unprecedented, and often shocking exposé of who profits from mass incarceration, culminating in a compelling case for abolition Based on years of research by the criminal justice organization Worth Rises--best known for campaigns that have revolutionized prison telecom and made prison and jail communication free in cities and states around the country--The Prison Industry maps the range of ways in which private corporations, often with their government partners, make money off our grossly overincarcerated prison population. It further details the extraction of wealth from incarcerated people and their families, who have been brutalized by overpolicing, mass criminalization, mass incarceration, and mass surveillance. Chapters on labor, telecom, healthcare, community corrections, and more explore the origin story of privatization for each sector and how much money is in it for the corporations involved. Stretching far beyond private prisons to look at all the sectors that benefit from incarceration, the authors illuminate the methods used to extract resources from public coffers and communities, which corporations are most active and how they partner with governments, and the harms these profit-based approaches to justice cause people, families, and communities. Ultimately, The Prison Industry makes a compelling case for prison abolition and serves as a tool for the dismantling and destruction of this wholly oppressive system--the ashes of which we can use to create a better world built on care, not cages.

Lying bare the political and personal intricacies of community struggles, this extraordinary story portrays the historical roots of the service delivery revolts that have swept South Africa in recent years. This novel centers around an engaging and tragic couple: an unemployed ex-shop steward and revolutionary, Monwabisi Radebe, and his wife, Constantia, a former nursery school aide turned local councilor in the fictional Eastern Cape township of Sivuyile. As the council implements an American-financed project of prepaid meters, water cut-offs are visited upon dozens of households. Idealistic Monwabisi faces the most difficult of choices: to remain loyal to the loving wife and mother of his children, who now represents an increasingly discredited council, or take to the streets with disenchanted residents. As Monwabisi and a host of other compelling characters face moral and economic dilemmas of street level organization, this narrative exposes the complexities of post-1994 politics in South Africa.

Through out the past quarter century, there has been an increased focus on corrections both as a means of social control (i.e. reducing crime) and generating income (i.e. profiteering from punishment); and with this in mind From Bars to Windows, attempts to examine how and explain why we can change the orientation of national correctional policy to more equitably spread the wealth generated by our nations prison system. Unlike the traditional staple of prison writing comprised of psuedo redemptive autobiography's, violence, sexual brutality, and the like-From Bars to Windows, concentrates more on the fundamental economics' of our prison system. Indeed this book is a virtual how to manual that explains the in's and outs of ethically and morally profiteering from our prison system. The book lays out exactly how investors can reap tremendous profits by taking advantage of the readily available for-profit prison industrial infrastructure that exists within our country. Market conditions are such that now the Green Energy sector is poised for virtually unparalleled growth. On the other side of the equation, there's a burgeoning prison manufacturing sector. For instance there were over 100 Federal prison based factories, which employed more than 21,000 inmates and generated over $546.3 million in net sales in 2003 alone.. As multi nationals realize that continued outsourcing of manufacturing jobs is no longer a viable or sustainable strategy, there's going to be an inexorable nexus between manufacturing on the one hand, and rehabilitative Prison industries on the other-with billions in potential profits at stake. Some of the highlights of the book include: ü defines and explains, Gatsian economic theory ü explains how prisons and profiteering are inextricably linked ü provides an examination of how the inherent economic potential of the prison black market can be harnessed to yield net economic gains for society