When the tough-on-crime politics of the 1980s overcrowded state prisons, private companies saw potential profit in building and operating correctional facilitie

This is a first-hand account of life behind bars in a controversial new type of prison facility: the private prison. Privatisation is seen as a necessary and co

Under the auspices of a governmentally sanctioned "war on drugs," incarceration rates in the United States have risen dramatically since 1980. Increasingly, cor

An enraging, necessary look at the private prison system, and a convincing clarion call for prison reform.” —NPR.org New York Times Book Review 10 Best Book

Punishment for Sale is the definitive modern history of private prisons, told through social, economic and political frames. The authors explore the origin of t