American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment

“I began to read through their prison records and learned that many who had been in the hole for years had not committed violent offenses in prison Some were indeed dangerous gang members, while others were put in solitary because of people they hung out with, for their work as jailhouse lawyers, or because they possessed books on African American history.” 

As Bauer begins to reintegrate into society after his solitary confinement in Evin Prison, he examines the use of solitary in American prisons. Apart from the staggering number of inmates in solitary—more than anywhere else in the world—its use seems utterly arbitrary. Inmates are confined to solitary for the slightest infractions. Long-term solitary confinement is psychologically traumatic; Bauer describes some inmates’ minds as “broken” after years in “the hole.” It is evident that the primary order of business within any penal institution is compliance, and if that means locking away anyone who even might offer resistance, then so be it.

“Private prisons do not drive mass incarceration today; they merely profit from it.” 

In this simple sentence, Bauer succinctly articulates the root of the problem. However, the connection between profit and mass incarceration is a bit of a chicken and egg relationship. While it may be technically accurate to argue that the War on Drugs rather than profit causes mass incarceration, the profit motive has driven legislation that has made it easier to incarcerate large numbers of people, especially during the Jim Crow era. Which of these is the cause and which is the result may not be so clearly linear.