Punishment for Sale

Donna Selman is assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at Eastern Michigan University. She has contributed to the book Battleground: Criminal Justice.Paul Leighton is associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at Eastern Michigan University. He is a co-author of Class, Race, Gender, and Crime, and is the founder of StopViolence.com, a resource for non-repressive responses to violence prevention.

Selman and Leighton have presented a cogent summary of the connection between the free market mentality that dominates American society and the use of imprisonment as a solution to the problem of crime. As the authors show so clearly, while crime may not pay, punishment certainly does, as it is a very profitable enterprise. The methodology is unique, as they review Congressional testimony, Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and the contracts of Corrections Corporation of America and the GEO Group have made with state and local governments. This book will leave its mark and future researchers on the American penal system will have to use it as a major source.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionChapter 2 The Crime "Problem" and the Free Market "Solution"Chapter 3 The Big Government "Problem" and the Kentucky Fried Prison "Solution"Chapter 4 The Prison-Industrial Complex: Profits, Vested Interests and PoliticsChapter 5 Confronting Problems: Blame Prisoners and Contracts Then Get A BailoutChapter 6 A Critical Look at the Efficiency and Overhead Costs of Private PrisonsChapter 7 ConclusionChapter 8 AppendixChapter 9 References