Prison State : The Challenge of Mass Incarceration

Within the past 25 years, the prison population in America shot upward to reach a staggering 1.53 million by 2005. This book takes a broad, critical look at incarceration, the huge social experiment of American society. The authors investigate the causes and consequences of the prison buildup, often challenging previously held notions from scholarly and public discourse. By examining such themes as social discontent, safety and security within prisons, and impact on crime and on the labor market, Piehl and Useem use evidence to address the inevitable larger question, where should incarceration go next for American society, and where is it likely to go?

Bert Useem is Professor of Sociology at Purdue University, Indiana. He previously taught sociology at University of New Mexico and was Director of the Institute for Social Research there. He is author of Resolution of Prison Riots: Strategy and Policies (with Camille Camp and George Camp, 1996) and States of Siege: US Prison Riots, 1971–1986 (with Peter A. Kimball, 1989).

Anne Morrison Piehl is Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at Rutgers University, New Jersey and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. She previously taught public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Massachusetts. She has been published widely in journals in economics, law, criminology, sociology, and public policy.