Introductory Video
In January 2021, US President Biden signed an executive order ending federal contracts with private prison companies. But did it go far enough?
Find Books
Inside Private Prisons by Location: Available OnlinePublication Date: 2018Inside Private Prisons details the complicated and perverse incentives rooted in the industry, offering a blueprint for policymakers to reform practices and for concerned citizens.
Privatising Criminal Justice by Location: Available OnlinePublication Date: 2022Privatising Criminal Justice explores the social, cultural and political context of privatisation in the criminal justice sector.
American prison : a reporter's undercover journey into the business of punishment by Location: Available OnlinePublication Date: 2018A blistering indictment of the private prison system, and the powerful forces that drive it.
Find Articles
The following articles are a selection of those available to you through BU Libraries:
- "Privatization and Flawed Punishment: An Economic Analysis and Critique of Private Prisons in the United States and United Kingdom" by Gabriella Badmus (2024). Available here.
- "Who is in private prisons? Demographic profiles of prisoners and workers in American private prisons" by Brett Burkhardt (2017). Available here.
- "Impacts of Private Prison Contracting on Inmate Time Served and Recidivism" by Anita Mukherjee" (2021). Available here.
- "From Penal to 'Civil': A Legacy of Private Prison Policy in a Landscape of Migrant Detention" by Sarah Lopez (2019). Available here.
- "Simplifying Reality: The Media’s Portrayal of the Private Prison Debate" by Andrea Montes et. al (2020). Available here.
- "Heat-related mortality in U.S. state and private prisons: A case-crossover analysis" nu Julianne Skarha et. al (2023). Available here.
