Captive Market: The Politics of Private Prisons in America Anna Gunderson

Captive Market: The Politics of Private Prisons in America Anna Gunderson – Ebook Instant Download/Delivery ISBN(s):9780197624166, 0197624162

Product details:

• ISBN 10: 0197624162
• ISBN 13: 9780197624166
• Author: Anna Gunderson

A novel explanation for state prison privatization: that they do so to limit legal and political accountability for inmate lawsuits. One of the most controversial developments in the American criminal justice in the last few decades has been the development of the modern private prison industry. While there are many explanations proffered for the adoption of this policy–including partisanship, economic stress, unionization, and lobbying efforts by private prison firms–none fully explain why states privatize their prisons. In Captive Market, Anna Gunderson proposes a novel explanation for why states adopt this policy. She shows that states privatize prisons to limit legal and political accountability for inmate lawsuits, an unintended consequence of the legal rights revolution for prisoners. Evidence from an original dataset and interviews with private prison companies, government officials, and advocacy groups suggest that growing prisoner lawsuits are a significant driver of prison privatization in the United States. With over 160,000 inmates currently held in private facilities across the country, it is vital to understand the causes of this rise and the nuances of private prison policy, one with significant consequences for the American criminal legal system. An eye-opening account of an industry that many are aware of but few know much about, this book will reshape our understanding of the fundamental nature of the American carceral state.

Table of contents:

1. Just Like Selling Cars, Real Estate, or Hamburgers
Private Prisons Enter the Market
Incentives to Privatize: Accountability and Inmate Lawsuits
Continuing Controversies
The Modern Private Prison Landscape
The Growth of the Carceral State and Carceral Governance
Looking Ahead
2. Profit in American Corrections
Private Interests and Carceral Institutions
Modern Private Prisons
Existing Research and Limited Data
A Source of New Data on Private Prisons
3. The Rights Revolution and Prison Privatization
The Judiciary’s “Hands-Off” Attitude and Slaves of the State
The Rise of Mass Incarceration
Prisoners, Lawyers, and Judges in an Era of Mass Incarceration
Inmate Lawsuit Growth and Private Prisons
What About Successful Lawsuits?
Accountability and Privatization
4. Inmate Lawsuits and Private Prisons
Data: Private Prisons and Inmate Litigation
Lawsuits and Other Explanations for Privatization
Instrumental Variables Estimation
Accountability and Privatization in Context
5. Do Private Prison Firms Respond to Successful Prison Litigation?
The Obama Department of Justice and Private Prisons
Investors and Company Stock Performance
Private Prison Firm Stocks and Politics
Event Study Methodology
Successful Lawsuits Prompt Company Caution
6. Captive Market
“You Send a Check and Send a Prisoner”
“It’s Like Comparing Atrocity to Atrocity”
“As Long as They’re Functioning, That’s Fine”
“They Are Always Going to Have a Place”
“Metastasis of the Larger Cancer of Mass Incarceration”

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