Capitalist Punishment: Prison Privatization and Human Rights

Prison privatization is rapidly increasing in many Western countries. But how is the public well-being served when prisons are run for maximum profit? Bringing together an accomplished group of writers and activists, Capitalist Punishment discusses prison privatization within its historical and ideological context, and in relation to international standard minimum rules developed by the United Nations.

Capitalist Punishment examines the adverse effects of private prisons on inmates related to physical and sexual abuse, health care, education, training, and rehabilitation. It describes the impact on prison staff, from whose salaries corporate profits are wrung, and of cost cutting in the design of facilities and allocation of personnel. Special attention is paid to the effect on vulnerable groups such as women, children, and disproportionately incarcerated minority and indigenous communities.

Revealing important links between neo-liberal policies locally and their global effects, Capitalist Punishment offers a disturbing glimpse into the transnational spread of privatized incarceration, as developing nations bound by IMF restrictions are forced into the hands of transnational corporations.

Andrew Coyle is the Director of the International Centre for Prison Studies, at King's College, London.
Andrew Coyle is the Director of the International Centre for Prison Studies, at King's College, London.