Golden Gulag by Ruth Wilson Gilmore in part makes the argument that the prisons basically form a jobs program, as small farms got kicked shitless in the 70-80s

Golden Gulag by Ruth Wilson Gilmore in part makes the argument that the prisons basically form a jobs program, as small farms got kicked shitless in the 70-80s prisons offered jobs that you could justifiably put in the middle of nowhere and were paid for by the government (federal or state). She specifically downplays the economics of slave labor in favor of the rural jobs argument (for both analytic and moral reasons)