The American prison system, or the business of incarceration
How did incarceration become a market? From private prisons to prison labor, the American prison system reveals the rise of…
Emma Tome
Master PGE student, SKEMA Business School
The American prison system or the business of incarceration
The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world with 655 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants – nearly six times more than China – and is home to a quarter of the world’s convicts. Might the land of the free also be the land of freedom deprivation? Undoubtedly, but it is also the land of business opportunity, where half of inmates work in prison, sometimes for the private sector. A business that generates several billion dollars in profit each year…