Shane Bauer
Goodreads Author
Member Since
February 2008
More books by Shane Bauer…
“Like prison systems throughout the South, Texas's grew directly out of slavery. After the Civil War the state's economy was in disarray, and cotton and sugar planters suddenly found themselves without hands they could force to work. Fortunately for them, the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, left a loophole. It said that 'neither slavery nor involuntary servitude' shall exist in the United States 'except as punishment for a crime.' As long as black men were convicted of crimes, Texas could lease all of its prisoners to private cotton and sugar plantations and companies running lumber camps and coal mines, and building railroads. It did this for five decades after the abolition of slavery, but the state eventually became jealous of the revenue private companies and planters were earning from its prisoners. So, between 1899 and 1918, the state bought ten plantations of its own and began running them as prisons.”
― American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment
― American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment
“The United States imprisons a higher portion of its population than any country in the world. In 2017 we had 2.2 million people in prisons and jails, a 500 percent increase over the last forty years. We now have almost 5 percent of the world’s population and nearly a quarter of its prisoners.”
― American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment
― American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment
“How many times have such meetings been held throughout American history? How many times have men. be they private prison executives or convict lessees, gotten together to perform this ritual? They sit in company headquarters or legislative offices, far from their prisons or labor camps, and craft stories that soothe their consciences. They convince themselves, with remarkable ease, that they are in the business of punishment because it makes the world better, not because it makes them rich.”
― American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment
― American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment
Topics Mentioning This Author
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 Reading Chal...: Book Suggestions - Not Really Off Topic | 79 | 194 | Feb 25, 2015 08:24AM | |
Non Fiction Book ...: Non-Fiction Book You Are Currently Reading or Just Finished ~ 2018 | 1090 | 385 | Jan 05, 2019 04:22AM | |
Mid-Continent Pub...: New Kit Keeper Titles (Jul - Dec 2019) | 8 | 43 | Jan 07, 2020 09:02AM | |
The Challenge Fac...: 100 Book Genre Challenge 2020 | 45 | 149 | Dec 31, 2020 06:17PM | |
The Challenge Fac...: Resolution: Read More | 34 | 171 | Jan 02, 2021 10:19PM |