Book Review: Carceral, K. C. (2006). Prison, Inc.: A Convict Exposes Life Inside a Private Prison. Edited by T. J. Bernard. New York: New York University Press. 246 pp

• Author: J. Robert Lilly
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016808329701
• Published date: 01 September 2009
• Date: 01 September 2009
• Subject Matter: Articles

460 Criminal Justice Review

and equalizing the power imbalance that results from being raped. When the victims are

positively encouraged by their support group or the prosecutor, they generally take full

advantage of writing and giving victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing. There is

no evidence as to whether the victim’s participation actually affects the judge’s sentencing;

however, the victim usually feels satisfaction after the process.

Chapter 10 deals with current policy and how it could be “made to serve the needs of the

individuals upon whom its workers rely and our future safety depends: crime victims” (p. 176).

Konradi argues that legislation itself should be evaluated and altered to take the level of a

woman’s resistance as a determination of rape out of the statute. The definitions of rape should

be changed to be gender neutral, as most are written from a woman’s perspective and involve

penile penetration. The court procedure should also be made more accessible to victims.

Finally, rape victims should be able to tell their account of the rape without interruption.

Konradi’s work can help prosecutors, victim advocates, and most importantly rape sur-

vivors to understand the legal process that will follow the report of a rape. This book’s

firsthand accounts from women throughout their journey through the legal system can help

other victims by giving them knowledge of what is to come. The firsthand accounts also

make Konradi’s research much more compelling. These are not numbers or percentages;

they are the real words and experiences of victims.

Scott N. MacMillan

Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas

Carceral, K. C. (2006). Prison, Inc.: A Convict Exposes Life Inside a Private Prison. Edited

by T. J. Bernard. New York: New York University Press. 246 pp.

DOI: 10.1177/0734016808329701

The Foreword states that the book’s purpose is to give readers a glimpse into a contem-

porary private prison and it’s descent into chaos and subsequent climb back toward order

and control. It is more than this—it is a “forced” participation observation comparative

case study told in the words of Carceral (a pseudonym for fear of retaliation from other

inmates and/or prison officials), who was incarcerated shortly after his 1982 high school

graduation following a conviction for first-degree murder.

After serving 15 years in a northern state public prison in 1997, he was transferred (die-

sel therapy in prison jargon for travel by bus) to a new southern private for-profit prison—

Enterprise (fictitious name of the private prison)—whose corporation stock is traded on

Wall Street. It had received a contract from a state to achieve tax savings, a theme still

driving some states with the same goal. Almost immediately after opening, violence

erupted as the corporation focused on containing costs to maximize profits.

Carceral served 4 years in this prison (and another year and a half in another) before he

was transferred back to a state-owned prison in his home state where he produced this, his

second book. It is organized around six topics beginning with an introduction to Enterprise

and the politics of private prisons, guerilla warfare among prisoners, Carceral’s own tour, a