Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis - Hardcover

"[Parenti's] exhaustively documented text deserves a full hearing from anyone serious about ending the often horrific realities of the criminal justice system."--"Washington Post Book World""A fast read, angry and compelling. --"Philadelphia City Paper""--"Essential reading for those in law enforcement and politics."--"Times Literary Supplement""The book is in the best tradition of investigative journalism, paced like a fine novel, it carries the authority of meticulous academic research."--"The Independent""This dark, unflinching look at what our nation has become ... cannot fail to generate serious thought about issues we prefer to lock away in darkness."--"Christian Science Monitor"

Consider the following: Over 1.7 million Americans live in prison, a three hundred percent increase since 1980; In some US cities, one third of all young Black men are in jail, on probation or awaiting trial; In California, spending on prisons has eclipsed allocations for higher education; Starbucks, Jansport and Microsoft all use prison labor to package their products; Corrections Corporations of America, the nation's largest private jailer, has been dubbed a 'theme stock for the 90s.' Why is criminal justice so central to American politics? Lockdown America not only documents the horrors and absurdities of militarized policing, prisons, a fortified border, and the federalization of the war on crime, it also explains the political and economic history behind the massive crackdown. Written in accessible and vivid prose, Lockdown America will propel readers toward a deeper understanding of the links between crime and politics in a period of gathering economic crisis.