Golden Gulag
by Ruth Wilson Gilmore · first published 2007
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2HN commenters
2019–2023first – last mentioned
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Since 1980, the number of people in U.S. prisons has increased more than 450%. Despite a crime rate that has been falling steadily for decades, California has led the way in this explosion, with what a state analyst called "the biggest prison building project in the history of the world." Golden Gulag provides the first detailed explanation for that buildup by looking at how political and economic forces, ranging from global to local, conjoined to produce the prison boom.
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…lecture at Northwestern. Ruth Wilson [2,3] has worked for years analyzing and working to end the expansion and privatization of California's prisons, through both academic and grass roots efforts [4]. Her "Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California" [5] book is both accessible and rigorous, I highly recommend it. I am a bit shocked that their and foundational work were not mentioned…
on “California bans private prisons” ↗Some references to the long history of class struggle in California include Ruth Wilson Gilmore, The Golden Gulag https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520242012/golden-gulag Huey P Newton (co-founder of the Black Panther Party in Oakland, CA October 1966) Revolutionary Suicide, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Suicide…
on “Silicon Valley’s Vast Wealth Disparity Deepens as Poverty Increased” ↗It's a start. Thank you Ruth Wilson, thank you Angela Davis https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/magazine/prison-abolition... https://books.google.com/books/about/Golden_Gulag.html?id=zT...
on “California bans private prisons” ↗Golden Gulag by Ruth Wilson Gilmore in part makes the argument that the prisons basically form a jobs program, as small farms got kicked shitless in the 70-80s prisons offered jobs that you could justifiably put in…
on “US prison workers produce $11B worth of goods and services for little to no pay” ↗