Incarceration Industry

Incarceration Industry is a term used by American civil libertarians and opponents of sex offender laws to describe the Prison–industrial complex in a somewhat more direct manner.

Civil rights activists engaged on sex offender issues, such as Derek Logue, Steven Whitsett and the wider Registry Reform movement have tended to criticise the punitive nature of the American justice system. While personal experience may highlight punitive attitudes (the American justice system is uniquely punitive, using civil commitment to punish selected offenders beyond their initial sentences), this does not fully explain why some countries with similarly harsh laws and public opinion on sex offenders (e.g. UK, Scandinavia) have employed shorter sentences and more rehabilitative measures. It would appeal to some at least, to consider there is not anything uniquely punitive, or "evil" about the American psyche.

The existence, scale and demands of an unchecked incarceration industry, as an alternative, at least partly explains the divergence in sentencing between the US and other developed nations.

See also

• Michel Foucault

External links

• The Legal Pad - A civilly-committed former attorney looks at the extra-legality and social tragedy of America’s growing gulag system. WA. Percy Fdn.
• LA Progressive
• The Question No One Asks - The testimony of an RSO activist who was to be incarcerated for life for a consensual crime, demonstrates the existence of an incarceration industry.