The ‘big house’ in a small town: The economic and social impacts of a correctional facility on its host community

Abstract

As a result of the dramatic increase in the prison population, correctional institutions have become the fastest growing public space in the United States (Zukin, 1995). Criminal justice practitioners and scholars continue to debate the utility of sentencing policies that have produced the demand for new prisons. Perhaps, though, the most unexpected result is the extent to which new correctional institutions are perceived as a means of reviving economically failing communities. As traditional “smokestack chasing” strategies of economic development have become less promising, community leaders are turning to new strategies. One strategy that appears to hold promise is the recruitment of new correctional facilities. Particularly in rural communities that have suffered staggering losses in agriculture, mining, and other natural resource industries, prisons are rapidly becoming a popular alternative to more traditional means of economic development. Today, it is not uncommon for announcements of plans to construct new prisons to set off intense bidding wars as economically troubled towns vie with one another to be chosen as the prison site (Pagel, 1988; Fitchen, 1991; Meddis and Sharp, 1994; Hernandez, 1996). This article presents a single case study of the economic impact of a correctional facility on its host community, a rural town in the Midwest. The study can advance the understanding of what happens when communities turn to prisons as an economic development strategy.