The first public academic to my knowledge to begin crystalizing the problem of private prisons and the prison industrial complex was Angela Davis [1] -- I first

The first public academic to my knowledge to begin crystalizing the problem of private prisons and the prison industrial complex was Angela Davis [1] -- I first remember hearing her address this in a 1998 lecture at Northwestern. Ruth Wilson [2,3] has worked for years analyzing and working to end the expansion and privatization of California's prisons, through both academic and grass roots efforts [4]. Her "Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California" [5] book is both accessible and rigorous, I highly recommend it. I am a bit shocked that their and foundational work were not mentioned in the piece. There's a discussion between Davis and Wilson here [6] where they surface the mass incarceration/private prison issue, and detail the pathology of California's prison system. [1]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1583225811/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1583225811/ref=dbs_a_def_r... [2]https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/magazine/prison-abolition-ruth-wilson-gilmore.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/magazine/prison-abolition... [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTPjC-7EDkc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTPjC-7EDkc [4] http://criticalresistance.org/ http://criticalresistance.org/ [5] https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Gulag-Opposition-Globalizing-California/dp/0520242017/ref=pd_sbs_14_6/140-9692660-6198769?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0520242017&pd_rd_r=967d5b8c-466b-4fec-9974-b0ffa782f3e5&pd_rd_w=dsvaO&pd_rd_wg=nl4CJ&pf_rd_p=d66372fe-68a6-48a3-90ec-41d7f64212be&pf_rd_r=E6HJNZAF3HPJE5KMQ3MK&psc=1&refRID=E6HJNZAF3HPJE5KMQ3MK https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Gulag-Opposition-Globalizing-C... [6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGPVPrJGXsY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGPVPrJGXsY