Corporate profit motives entrench a prison system that would otherwise be obsolete.

Evidence

Punishment no longer constitutes a marginal area of the larger economy. Corporations producing all kinds of goods— from buildings to electronic devices and hygiene products— and providing all kinds of services—from meals to therapy and healthcare—are now directly involved in the punishment business. That is to say, companies that one would assume are far removed from the work of state punishment have developed major stakes in the perpetuation of a prison system whose historical obsolescence is therefore that much more difficult to recognize. … But throughout the history of the U.S. prison system, prisoners have always constituted a potential source of profit. For example, they have served as valuable subjects in medical research, thus positioning the prison as a major link between universities and corporations. — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 235

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Prison expansion correlates with falling crime, exposing profit and racism as drivers — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 227; Imprisonment converts bodies of color into profit sources that drain public welfare funding — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 234; Prisons stockpile obsolete ideas like racism and misogyny that society has rejected — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 221 (+14 more)

Related

• Prisons proliferated while crime rates were falling due to corporate profit (similarity 0.90)
• Prison expansion correlates with falling crime, exposing profit and racism as drivers (similarity 0.88)
• Punishment is so corporatized that mainstream companies now stake themselves in its perpetuation (similarity 0.88)
• Public prisons now function as profit sources nearly as much as private ones do (similarity 0.88)
• Imprisonment converts bodies of color into profit sources that drain public welfare funding (similarity 0.87)
• Private prisons require a steady supply of prisoners as raw material. (similarity 0.85)
• Punishment follows politics, corporate profit, and media, not crime itself (similarity 0.85)
• Private prisons profit by keeping inmates incarcerated as long as possible (similarity 0.82)
• Per-inmate fees give private prisons a structural incentive to keep people locked up (similarity 0.81)
• Prison growth began when crime rates were already falling (similarity 0.80)
• Reform rhetoric bolsters prison permanence and cannot meet corporate-era challenges (similarity 0.80)
• The prison boom was a way to concentrate and manage a capitalist human surplus (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Prisons proliferated while crime rates were falling due to corporate profit #corroborates (0.80)
• Per-inmate fees give private prisons a structural incentive to keep people locked up #expands (0.80)
• Private prisons profit by keeping inmates incarcerated as long as possible #expands (0.75) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 256
• Punishment is so corporatized that mainstream companies now stake themselves in its perpetuation #expands (0.70)
• The prison boom was a way to concentrate and manage a capitalist human surplus #expands (0.60)
• Racism and profit, not crime, drive prison expansion #corroborates (0.60)
• Punishment follows politics, corporate profit, and media, not crime itself #corroborates (0.55) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 295
• Public prisons are as profit-saturated as private ones. #qualifies (0.50)
• Public prisons now function as profit sources nearly as much as private ones do #qualifies (0.50) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 265
• Corporate outsourcing destroys communities and produces prison candidates #expands (0.50)
• Reform rhetoric bolsters prison permanence and cannot meet corporate-era challenges #responds-to (0.40) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 266