Written by Tana Fye
American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment
Borrowed from library.
Prisons are not supposed to be pleasant places. They are supposed to be places of punishment, and places of rehabilitation. But they are supposed to be controlled and prisoners are supposed to be kept safe from other inmates. This book examines the history of prisons and prison farms, particularly when turning a profit is the motive of the state. The author also went undercover to work as a prison guard in a for-profit prison in Louisiana. And the results of his investigative reporting are quite shocking. I am a generally in favor of privatization, but there are certain things that need to remain governmental functions, and I think prisons are among them. The prison that Bauer worked in was not a place of rehabilitation, and it wasn’t a place where either the guards or inmates were safe.