Prison Industrial Complex for Beginners PDF
Preview Prison Industrial Complex for Beginners
PPRRIISSOONN IINNDDUUSSTTRRIIAALL CCOOMMPPLLEEXX P PPRRIISSOONN IINNDDUUSSTTRRIIAALL CCOOMMPPLLEEXX R I S O F O R B E G I N N E R S ® N F O R B E G I N N E R S ® I N D Prison Industrial Complex For Beginners U S “Dr. James Braxton Peterson’s seamlessly T patches together the complex development of the PIC, which is an overwhelming R social and political force with many complicated causes and contributors. As a I roadmap for understanding the United States’ path to becoming known as Incarcer- A ation Nation, the book tracks why and how the US chose the road for implementing L increasingly harsh punitive responses to crime instead of the route of embracing so- C cial solutions to address crime. Peterson’s analysis illustrates how racism drove the O choice to create and sustain a PIC that uses prisons for punishment and oppression M as opposed to rehabilitation or social justice. By identifying policies related to the P war on drugs, solitary confinement, life sentences for juveniles, exploitative inmate L labor, prison privatization, as well as political verbiage that refers to prisoners as E animals, Peterson’s work highlights the dehumanization of people who are incarcer- X ated as a central theme of American correctional policy.”—CAITLIN J. TAYLOR, PH.D. F Assistant Professor La Salle University O Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice R “In a highly engaging and straightforward manner, James Peterson locates, narrates, B and critiques the massive apparatus that is today’s American carceral state—one that has contained more black bodies, and has ensnared more black lives, than at E any other point in U.S. history. For scholars and lay readers alike, Peterson’s book G makes clear that our nation’s staggering rate of incarceration is not rooted in a dis- interested policy response to violence or crime, nor has it become just some “rite of I passage” for black youth. In short, mass incarceration’s origins are deeply rooted in N our nation’s racialized past and, as importantly, it is today but one part of a massive Prison Industrial Complex that serves very specific interests, devastates communi- N ties, and therefore must be dismantled.” —HEATHER ANN THOMPSON, Historian, University of Michigan, and author, Blood in the Water: E The Attica Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy (2016) R ISBN: 978-1-939994-31-8 U.S. $15.95 S ® BY JAMES BRAXTON PETERSON POLITICAL SCIENCE/SOCIAL POLICY ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOHN JENNINGS AND STACEY ROBINSON FOREWORD BY MICHAEL ERIC DYSON PPRRIISSOONN IINNDDUUSSTTRRIIAALL CCOOMMPPLLEEXX F O R B E G I N N E R S® Praise for Prison Industrial Complex For Beginners “A truly indispensable book, especially for causes and contributors. As a roadmap for educators across the disciplines. One cannot understanding the United States’ path to be- understand America today without under- coming known as Incarceration Nation, the standing the monstrosity that is the Prison book tracks why and how the US chose the Industrial Complex, and this slim volume road for implementing increasingly harsh helps readers not simply understand the punitive responses to crime instead of the PIC but feel righteous rage about it.” route of embracing social solutions to ad- dress crime. Peterson’s analysis illustrates —BAZ DREISINGER how racism drove the choice to create and Associate Professor of English, sustain a PIC that uses prisons for punish- John Jay College of Criminal Justice; ment and oppression as opposed to reha- IFnocuanrcdeinragt Aiocna dNeamtioicn Ds irector, bilitation or social justice. By identifying Prison-to-College Pipeline; policies related to the war on drugs, solitary author, Prison Industria(l2 C0o1m6)- confinement, life sentences for juveniles, plex For Beginners, exploitative inmate labor, prison privatiza- “In his penetrating tion, as well as political verbiage that refers Dr. Peterson shines a to prisoners as animals, Peterson’s work bright and relentless spotlight on the social highlights the dehumanization of people catastrophe that is America’s sprawling who are incarcerated as a central theme of criminal justice system. As only an educa- American correctional policy.” tor with a deep and personal knowledge of —CAITLIN J. TAYLOR their subject material can, Peterson topples Assistant Professor, Department of the myths and reveals the racist machinery Sociology and Criminal Justice that lies at the heart of that system. For too La Salle University long, liberals and conservatives alike have labored under the delusion that the Prison “In a highly engaging and straightforward Industrial Complex—when they even ac- manner, James Peterson locates, narrates, knowledge its existence—is merely an un- and critiques the massive apparatus that is fortunate accident of history. It’s as if it were today’s American carceral state—one that a sort of natural disaster that, despite our has contained more black bodies, and has best intentions, we’ve wandered aimlessly ensnared more black lives, than at any oth- into. In clear and persuasive writing, Dr. Pe- er point in U.S. history. For scholars and lay terson argues that the human-ravaging ma- readers alike, Peterson’s book makes clear chinery of the carceral state is the result of that our nation’s staggering rate of incarcer- dPerilsiboner aInted uasntdri arla cCiostm ppolelixc yF, odre vBeelgoipnende rasn d ation is not rooted in a disinterested policy strengthened at every level of government. response to violence or crime, nor has it be- is come just some “rite of passage” for black essential reading for anyone curious about youth. In short, mass incarceration’s origins the origins of the harrowing path we’ve are deeply rooted in our nation’s racialized walked and hungry for the sort of clarity past and, as importantly, it is today but one needed to lead the way out. “ part of a massive Prison Industrial Complex that serves very specific interests, devas- —GLENN E. MARTIN tates communities, and therefore must be JustLeadershipUSA Prison In- dismantled.” dustrial Complex For Beginners “Dr. James Braxton Peterson’s —HEATHERB lAoNodN i Tn HthOeM WPaStOeNr: seamlessly TheH Aitsttiocari aUnp,r Uisninivge orfs i1t9y7 o1f aMnidch itigs aLne,g aancdy patches together the complex development author, of the PIC, which is an overwhelming social and political force with many complicated (2016) PPRRIISSOONN IINNDDUUSSTTRRIIAALL CCOOMMPPLLEEXX F O R B E G I N N E R S® BY JAMES BRAXTON PETERSON ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN JENNINGS AND STACEY ROBINSON FOREWORD BY MICHAEL ERIC DYSON For Beginners LLC 155 Main Street, Suite 211 Danbury, CT 06810 USA www.forbeginnersbooks.com Text: © 2016 James Braxton Peterson Illustrations: © 2016 John Jennings and Stacey Robinson This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulat- ed without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other- wise, without prior permission of the publisher. A For Beginners® Documentary Comic Book Copyright © 2016 Cataloging-in-Publication information is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN-13 # 978-1-939994-31-8 Trade Manufactured in the United States of America For Beginners® and Beginners Documentary Comic Books® are published by For Beginners LLC. F10ir s t9 E d8i t i o7 n 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Foreword Introducti boyn Michael Eric Dyson ….……………………….......................vii ……………..………….….….………………....…….......................1 The Origin of Complexes Chapter 1 ..........................................................................13 Race and the Persistence of Law-and-Order Ideology Chapter 2 .............35 The Failed War(s) on Drugs Chapter 3 ……………...…..……….…..…...................55 Private Profits and Private Prisons Chapter 4 ………………………...................75 Youth, Immigration, and Solitary Confinement Chapter 5 …..…….............93 Recidivism and Real Reform Chapter 6 ……....………..……......…….…..............105 From The New Jim Crow to EJipmilmogyu’se Back to The Last Jimmy …....………..……......….…...............123 The Black Prison Narratives Syllabus Appendix Notes …………………...................131 Furthe…r.. …Re…a…d…in…g… ..………………………….................................................135 About the Author… ………………………………………………………..........141 About the Illustrat…o.r…s… …………………………..…………....…................143 …..………………..………………………….............143 Foreword by Michael Eric Dyson As a professor of English, James Brax- ton Peterson knows a thing or two about long, and wrong, sentences. Beyond his brilliant understanding of figures of speech, Peterson knows a great deal about the figures that sim- ply don’t add up to justice in the star- tling statistics of who gets locked up in modern America. And he knows about the human figures—black, brown, and poor—who end up in prison because of their color and not just their char- acter. I have occasionally accompanied Peterson as he burrows beneath the dingy confinement of “dangerous” human flesh inside jails and pris- ons. He has often conducted what can only be called an ethnography of imprisonment by asking the incarcerated what they think and feel. I have seen him ask about their mental and physical health, and about their families, before he rages, quietly and with great intel- ligence, against the forces that got them incarcerated. In terms at once poetic and practical, he translates Michel Foucault’s reflections on discipline and punishment, or rap legend Nas’s epistle to an im- prisoned comrade caught up in the brutal logic of the streets, while never failing to think with them about the choices they made— choices that, in part, made them. Because I am a clergyman, I viewed what Peterson was doing as ministry, indeed the most sophisticated and substantive ministry one might imagine without the proselytizing that is often seen as an evangelist’s most compelling mission. Of course it is more than a little ironic that Peterson hails professionally from Pennsylvania, where a couple of centuries back the Quakers urged offenders to search their consciences in solitary confinement to piece back to- gether their criminally fractured lives—a fateful trend that Peterson skillfully deconstructs in this book. Peterson’s mission in prison was different. He offered the vic- tims of societal structures and behaviors an edifying twist on their destinies by urging them to become more conscious of what was vii being done to them, and what they were doing to themselves, in a society that cared little about the distincatlilon and punished them all the same. Except it didn’t punish them the same. The matters of color and class and age and gender have to be figured in to recognize just how unjust our criminal jus- tice system often is. Peterson not only embraced the ethnography of imprisonment in the situations he encountered, but he offered an on- the-spot, grassroots phenomenol- ogy of incarceration—a brief burst of empirical engagement with the entangled forces and dynamics that got folk imPprirsiosno nIendd uinst trhiael f iCrosmt plex For Beginners place. Consider the remixed, extended version of Peterson’s daring and compelling prison inter- ventions. To be sure, the “industrial” in the title is more formal than substantial, except as a mark of the evolving understanding of a phe- nomenon with roots in the industrial era but that extends forward into the hyper-technological present. The means of surveillance and security that are part of the amped-up prison environment of today might suggest a shift in terminology to Prison Digital Complex, but then we’d lose the allusion to President Dwight Eisenhower’s “Mil- itary-Industrial Complex” and every other variant of the term that seeks to link an area of government responsibility and private indus- try. In Eisenhower’s case, it was the informal connection between the U.S. military and the defense industry; in the present case, it’s the unseemly alliance between the nation’s criminal justice system and the prison and punishment industry. Peterson, like social theo- rist Mike Davis who invented the term, has chosen to “PIC” this fight, and he’s done it well. Those of us who read his book for beginners are the better for it. It’s all here, too: the things you need to know in order to un- derstand how a behemoth and out-of-control system has taken root and colored our perception of criminal justice, how it has driven the need to reform the reformers—the John Wayne-infused Western frontier mythology that fuels the right-wing ideology of law-and-or- der, in which the ostensible protectors and servants of the law in- viii stead serve disorder and fuel injustice. Here is the chaotic and disas- trous War on Drugs, too often a proxy war against people of color. Here, in stark reality and detail, is the privatization of prisons and the enormous, often immoral, profits that flow from vulnerable bod- ies locked away—bodies that are too often young, colored, female, and “foreign.” For indeed the nation’s immigration policies and the dreadful concomitant of solitary confinement have extended the in- ternational reach of our belligerently bloated PIC. And here is the suspect logic that drives both the paranoia about recidivism—which the legendary black preacher William Augustus Jones, Jr. defined as “a return in degree to a former state of being” (alluding in my view to the return of America to a racist past when it benefitted from un- paid black labor and the imprisonment that coerced it)—and the flawed ideals of prison reform that don’t address the structural fea- tures of racial, gender, and class oppression. This book is a sublimely useful powder keg—an explosive gath- ering of insight, information and, yes, inspiration, for us to act on what Peterson has learned and what he so valiantly teaches us. The ideas discussed here can’t be restricted to those whose lives the PIC immediately impacts. Neither can they be confined to the souls whose existence is transformed by a loved one being locked away in hopeless dungeons of of- ten unjust punishment. The bitter truth is that prisons affect all of us. We are all, to a degree, imprisoned by our thirst for the exclusion from society of its most vicious members. But the idea that prisons in America contain only the bodies of the righ- teously confined has been demolished by the volume of data rushing toward us from study after study, from book after book. Such work proves that our unstated class and color vengeance, and the rot of our gender bias, has spoiled our system of disci- pline and punishment—from the principal’s office where kids of color are often unfair- ix
The list of books you might like
