Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America's Poor

By Paul Wright

Book Overview

Prison Nation is a distant dispatch from a foreign and forbidden place--the world of America's prisons. Written by prisoners, social critics and luminaries of investigative reporting, Prison Nation testifies to the current state of America's prisoners' living conditions and political concerns. These concerns are not normally the concerns of most Americans, but they should be. From substandard medical care the inadequacy of resources for public defenders to the death penalty, the issues covered in this volume grow more urgent every day. Articles by outstanding writers such as Mumia Abu-Jamal, Noam Chomsky, Mark Dow, Judy Green, Tracy Huling and Christian Parenti chronicle the injustices of prison privatization, class and race in the justice system, our quixotic drug war, the rarely discussed prison AIDS crisis and a judicial system that rewards mostly those with significant resources or the desire to name names. Correctional facilities have become a profitable growth industry, for companies like Wackenhut that run them and companies like Boeing that use cheap prison labor. With fascinating narratives, shocking tales and small stories of hope, Prison Nation paints a picture of a world many Americans know little or nothing about.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415935385
• ISBN13: 9780415935388
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 348 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Extremely eye opening

I found this book to be very informative and definitely highlights the injustice in the courts and prison system. The author and contributing authors share experiences and facts in an easy to read format. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to delve deeper into the injustices facing the racially poor in our country.

Prison Nation, U.S.A.

The articles that comprise Prison Nation not only offer perspectives on prison life and the legal system, but make for a very in depth primer in American politics. A continuing thread through many of the works is an emotional and fact based analysis of how the U.S. legal system works against the poor and working classes, while generally ignoring or even rewarding the crimes of the upper classes and corporations, while corporate crime does far more economic and even physical damage (as in deaths due to workplace hazards and malpractice, for instance). George Winslow's article "Capital Crimes" lays out in plain terms the damage done by corporate crime, while giving the facts on how little our system does to stop it. Noam Chomsky's "Drug Policy as Social Control" is a very brief, but extremely inciteful look at the politics behind the "war on drugs". There are 3 essays contributed by Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is simply one of the most eloquent and powerful political writers of our day, free man or not. Other essays deal with the cultural effects and ethical implications of the "private prison" industry and the prison labor trade, and many other potent topics. Of course, many of us already know that around 85% of prisoners are locked up for non-violent offenses. Many of us are aware of police brutality in our own neighborhoods, of race and class profiling... but what do these things mean in the bigger picture of American ideology and U.S. culture. Prison Nation offers many valuable facts, insights and questions about these topics which are central to our society. Routledge has once again published another invaluable book that many publishers would not take a chance on. Their reputation in publishing is solid in many subjects and this book certainly lives up to their reputation. Highly recommended.