Cruel, But Not Unusual, Market Foundations
Document Type
Blog Post
Publication Title
The Law and Political Economy Project
Publication Date
10-2-2023
Abstract
(Excerpt)
Readers of this blog are likely aware that laws structure markets, that debts transcribe an array of legal, social, and power relations, and that assumptions about how the “economy” works often form a hidden backdrop behind legal reasoning. But how can we think about America’s prisons in these terms? In forthcoming work, out soon in the Georgetown Law Journal, I take these ideas as starting points in my examination of the carceral services industry.
This post focuses in particular on the growing entanglement between U.S. prisons and private equity firms. These firms, cloaked under protective securities laws, have increasingly acquired companies that provide essential goods and services in prisons. But it is the legal construction of prisoners’ rights that enables this market to take the particular form that it does, turning community ties into steady payment streams, adding to the financial pressure prisoners and their families face. Understanding how the Eighth Amendment structures this market is key to this analysis. Decisions affirming the constitutionality of pay-to-stay fees under the Eighth Amendment, I argue, have transformed the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment into a (subordinating) right to credit.
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Originally published at: https://lpeproject.org/blog/cruel-but-not-unusual-market-foundations/