The Left’s Prison Complex

THE Left knows a growth industry when it sees one. Ever since prominent left-wing journalist Mike Davis popularized the term “prison industrial complex” in a 1995 Nation article, self-styled progressives have relentlessly derided America’s burgeoning prison system as a racist, profit-driven monster that enriches corporations and wastes tax dollars while doing little to reduce crime.

The Left’s attack on the prison system is wrong in every major respect. America’s prison system doesn’t discriminate against blacks, is not growing because of a search for profits, and has made America much safer than other countries. For the Left, attacking the prison system is little more than an excuse to recycle tired anti capitalist canards.

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Eli Lehrer

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THE Left knows a growth industry when it sees one. Ever since prominent left-wing journalist Mike Davis popularized the term “prison industrial complex” in a 1995 Nation article, self-styled progressives have relentlessly derided America’s burgeoning prison system as a racist, profit-driven monster that enriches corporations and wastes tax dollars while doing little to reduce crime.

The Left’s attack on the prison system is wrong in every major respect. America’s prison system doesn’t discriminate against blacks, is not growing because of a search for profits, and has made America much safer than other countries. For the Left, attacking the prison system is little more than an excuse to recycle tired anti capitalist canards.