Book Review: Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America’s Poor
| Published date | 01 May 2005 |
| Author | Bruce Wilson |
| DOI | 10.1177/0734016805275693 |
| Date | 01 May 2005 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America’s Poor, edited by Tara Herivel and Paul Wright.
New York: Routledge, 2003, 332 pp.
DOI: 10.1177/0734016805275693
This edited volume analyzes the American prison system as a correctional industrial com-
plex that warehouses America’s poor, its minorities, and its disenfranchised. The book docu-
ments that the American prison complex serves as an effective mechanism to deal with social,
economic, and political problems in the country. The United States has become a prison
nation used to enslave millions of its “throw away” population in the name of economic
profit, dominance, and social control.
Furthermore, the book provides insight into the horrors that the prison system inflicts and
the reasons for the continuation of such an oppressive social apparatus. Last, the book pres-
ents the argument that the American prison system does not value fundamental human rights
but, in fact, continues to reinforce these negative conditions.
This is a remarkable book because insiders and outsiders examine prison conditions. The
essays are authored by an eclectic group of intellectuals ranging from prisoners, activists,
journalists, academics, attorneys, researchers, and policy analysts. These intellectuals add
validity to the thesis that America is a prison nation that warehouses its poor for economic
and political dominance. The book provides insight into the world of prisons that the public
knows little about. This book provides many observations about the American correctional
system, and it is written in a manner that the lay public can understand.
The book is divided into seven sections. Section 1 covers several integral points. The first
essay indicates that ineffective counsel provides inadequate legal representation to represent
the poor. The second essay indicates that prosecutors misuse their power by overreaching.
The third essay shows a nexus between prisons and the new racism. The fourth essay...
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