''American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment'' is a 2018 book by

Shane Bauer Shane Bauer is an American journalist, best known for his undercover reporting for ''Mother Jones'' magazine. He has won several awards including the Harvard's Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and the National Magazine Award for Best ...

, published by

Penguin Press Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initial ...

, about

incarceration in the United States Incarceration in the United States is a primary form of punishment and rehabilitation for the commission of felony and other offenses. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and the highest per-capita incarceratio ...

and the usage of

private prisons A private prison, or for-profit prison, is a place where people are imprisoned by a third party that is contracted by a government agency. Private prison companies typically enter into contractual agreements with governments that commit p ...

. Bauer had worked at the Winn Correctional Center in

Winn Parish, Louisiana Winn Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 15,313. Its seat is Winnfield. The parish was founded in 1852. It is last in alphabetical order of Louisiana's sixty-four parishes ...

, then operated by Corrections Corporation of America (now

CoreCivic CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. Co-founded in 1983 in Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the ...

), as an undercover journalist in 2014. The book is based upon his experiences, which were initially chronicled in a 2016 ''

Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...

'' article written by Bauer. The book was released on September 18, 2018. Bauer alternates between discussing his experiences at Winn and the history of incarceration in the United States.

Reception

Nate Blakeslee of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote that "the sheer number of forehead-slapping quotes from Bauer’s superiors and fellow guards alone are worth the price of admission." Michael Schaub of ''

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

'' described it as "an enraging, necessary look at the private prison system, and a convincing clarion call for prison reform."

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

described it as "A potent, necessary broadside against incarceration in the U.S." - Review issue June 15, 2018. The book also received the Silver Medal for Non-Fiction from th
California Book Awards

References

External links

* - Interview of Bauer about his book * 2018 non-fiction books Memoirs by American prison officers CoreCivic Works about American prisons Books about Louisiana Penal system in Louisiana Penguin Press books Books about imprisonment Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism {{prison-stub

Reception

See also

References

External links