Reclaiming the Prison Boom: Considering Prison Proliferation in the Era of Mass Imprisonment

Abstract

AbstractWhile mass imprisonment is a central topic of investigation within the sociology of punishment, less is known about the prison boom – the period beginning in 1970 during which the number of US prison facilities tripled. Surprisingly, our understanding of prison impact on rural communities is minimal despite nearly 70 percent of the new facilities being constructed in rural areas. With little fanfare, prison proliferation has severely altered the physical, social, economic, and political landscape of rural America. With few exceptions, scholars fail to consider where and why prisons are built, and how these places are impacted economically, or local perceptions of these impacts. As the next steps for this research agenda have not been clearly defined, this paper serves two purposes: (i) to differentiate and redefine the contours of the prison boom from mass imprisonment and then (ii) to explore the causes and consequences of the prison boom in building a framework to conduct future research into these critical issues.