Prisons as Panacea or Pariah? The Countervailing Consequences of the Prison Boom on the Political Economy of Rural Towns

Abstract

Abstract:The nascent literature on prison proliferation in the United States typically reveals negative impacts for communities of color. Given that Southern rural communities were the most likely to build during the prison boom , however, a more nuanced understanding of prison impact is warranted. Using a dataset matching and geocoding all 1663 U.S. prisons with their Census-appointed place, this study explores the countervailing consequences of the prison boom on rural towns across multiple periods. For example, locales that adopted prisons at earlier stages of the prison boom era received a short-term boom compared to those that did not, but these effects were not lasting. Furthermore, later in the boom, prison-building protected towns against additional economic decline. Thus, neither entirely pariah nor panacea, the prison functions as a state-sponsored public works program for disadvantaged rural communities but also supports perverse economic incentives for prison proliferation. Methodological, substantive, theoretical, and policy implications regarding the intersection of race and punishment are explored.

Prison-Based Economic Development: What the Evidence Tells Us

“…It stands for "Yes/Please In My Back Yard," referring to a pro-economic development movement within certain communities. In the 1980s, rural towns started welcoming prisons in their proximity when there was no alternative way out of the financial depression associated with the economic restructuring and farm crisis of the 1980s (Eason, 2017).…”

“…They attracted prisons as a means of economic development and competitively lobbied and bid to host prisons in their areas. Prison hosting was expected to improve and manage the reputation of host towns in economic distress (Eason, 2017). Towns often organized campaigns and sponsored town meetings to praise the benefits of prison hosting to the communities (Huling, 1999).…”

The House Is on Fire but We Kept the Burglars Out: Racial Apathy and White Ignorance in Pandemic-Era Immigration Detention

“…Research indicates that prison staff also experience substantially higher COVID-19 case prevalence than the U.S. population overall (Ward et al 2021) as they share "an environment known to amplify, accelerate, and act as a reservoir for outbreaks of respiratory diseases" with the prison inmates (Montoya-Barthelemy et al 2020, p. 888). As staff members commute between work and home, carrying the virus into the communities where they live (Keller and Wagner 2020;Kinner et al 2020), the local healthcare systems could have been or may still be overwhelmed as new variants spread, as most ICE detention facilities are often located in small, isolated towns (Eason 2017) with limited medical resources (Keller and Wagner 2020). Additionally, the frequent transfer of detainees among facilities risks transmitting the disease across different communities (Keller and Wagner 2020;Meyer et al 2020).…”

Mass Imprisonment across the Rural-Urban Interface

“…Data the data for the prison analyses come from the prison proliferation project. 1 these data were collected as part of a larger research project and to test theories of rural-urban interdependence in that project (see Eason 2017aEason , 2017b. Because prisons and prisoners are disproportionately in the South, Arkansas nicely characterizes current and recent historical trends in punishment.…”