California prison expansion responded to surpluses of capital, land, labor, and state capacity

Evidence

Geographer Ruth Gilmore describes the expansion of prisons in California as “a geographical solution to socio-economic problems,” Her analysis of the prison industrial complex in California describes these developments as a response to surpluses of capital, land, labor, and state capacity. — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 25

Categorization

• DEFINE: Gilmore’s framing ‘geographical solution to socio-economic problems’ defines the prison industrial complex as an economic response, a core conceptual tool.
• XREF: Connects to Black Marxism’s argument that capitalism manages crises through racialized surplus populations. — connects to: California’s prison boom absorbed surpluses of capital, land, and labor; Mass incarceration functions as a management system for surplus labor. — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 244; The prison boom was a way to concentrate and manage a capitalist human surplus (+3 more)

Related

• Mass incarceration functions as a management system for surplus labor. (similarity 0.87)
• California’s prison boom absorbed surpluses of capital, land, and labor (similarity 0.87)
• The prison boom was a way to concentrate and manage a capitalist human surplus (similarity 0.86)
• Prison expansion correlates with falling crime, exposing profit and racism as drivers (similarity 0.82)
• Prisons promised rural economic revival but delivered neither jobs nor revitalization (similarity 0.80)
• Prison growth began when crime rates were already falling (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• California’s prison boom absorbed surpluses of capital, land, and labor #corroborates (0.90)
• The prison boom was a way to concentrate and manage a capitalist human surplus #corroborates (0.85)
• Mass incarceration functions as a management system for surplus labor. #expands (0.75) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 244
• Racism and profit, not crime, drive prison expansion #expands (0.60)
• Prison expansion correlates with falling crime, exposing profit and racism as drivers #contradicts (0.60) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 227
• Mass incarceration did not lower crime but bred more prisons #complicates (0.50)