Description

Private Corrections, Financial Infrastructure, and Transportation: The New Geo-Economy of Shipping Prisoners

As federal, state, and local governments deepen their commitment to incarceration, so has the private sector operating on the notion that there exists a punishment-profit scheme for the taking. The expanding range of private corrections attracts not only small financial players but also tremendously power investors and corporations, together producing a firm financial infrastructure on which the industry rests. Nevertheless, there appears to be a demand for prisoners to occupy private prison cells; in response, a new geo-economy has emerged whereby prisoners are transported between jurisdictions and across state lines. The article explores those developments of prison profiteering while addressing key political and demographic dimensions of social inequality.

human geography, investments, neoliberalism, stockholdings, transportation

Citation: Social Justice Vol. 34, Nos. 3-4 (2007): 56-77