
American Prison
A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
James Fouhey
-
Shane Bauer
-
By:
-
Shane Bauer
About this listen
"An enraging, necessary look at the private prison system, and a convincing clarion call for prison reform.” (NPR.org)
New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2018
One of President Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2018
Winner of the 2019 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize
Winner of the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism
Winner of the 2019 RFK Book and Journalism Award
A New York Times Notable Book
A groundbreaking and brave inside reckoning with the nexus of prison and profit in America in one Louisiana prison and over the course of our country's history.
In 2014, Shane Bauer was hired for nine dollars an hour to work as an entry-level prison guard at a private prison in Winnfield, Louisiana. An award-winning investigative journalist, he used his real name; there was no meaningful background check. Four months later, his employment came to an abrupt end. But he had seen enough, and in short order he wrote an exposé about his experiences that won a National Magazine Award and became the most-read feature in the history of the magazine Mother Jones.
Still, there was much more that he needed to say. In American Prison, Bauer weaves a much deeper reckoning with his experiences together with a thoroughly researched history of for-profit prisons in America from their origins in the decades before the Civil War. For, as he soon realized, we can't understand the cruelty of our current system and its place in the larger story of mass incarceration without understanding where it came from. Private prisons became entrenched in the South as part of a systemic effort to keep the African-American labor force in place in the aftermath of slavery, and the echoes of these shameful origins are with us still.
The private prison system is deliberately unaccountable to public scrutiny. Private prisons are not incentivized to tend to the health of their inmates, or to feed them well, or to attract and retain a highly trained prison staff. Though Bauer befriends some of his colleagues and sympathizes with their plight, the chronic dysfunction of their lives only adds to the prison's sense of chaos. To his horror, Bauer finds himself becoming crueler and more aggressive the longer he works in the prison, and he is far from alone.
A blistering indictment of the private prison system, and the powerful forces that drive it, American Prison is a necessary human document about the true face of justice in America.
©2018 Shane Bauer (P)2018 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Prison Stories
- By: Seth Ferranti
- Narrated by: Don Kline
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fans of Iceberg Slim's Pimp Tales and HBO's OZ series will really dig this. In Prison Stories, Seth Ferranti brings forth a powerful memoir of life in federal prisons in the 1990s when the "war on drugs" and mandatory minimums were in full effect, quadrupling the population of the Bureau of Prisons.
-
-
Very Interesting!
- By Alejandro on 01-25-19
By: Seth Ferranti
-
Locked In
- The True Causes of Mass Incarceration - and How to Achieve Real Reform
- By: John F. Pfaff
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Locked In is a revelatory investigation into the root causes of mass incarceration by one of the most exciting scholars in the country. Having spent 15 years studying the data on imprisonment, John Pfaff takes apart the reigning consensus created by Michelle Alexander and other reformers, revealing that the most widely accepted explanations - the failed War on Drugs, draconian sentencing laws, an increasing reliance on private prisons - tell us much less than we think.
-
-
The true causes of Mass Incarceration
- By Ekaterinya Vladinakova on 04-17-20
By: John F. Pfaff
-
Are Prisons Obsolete?
- By: Angela Y. Davis
- Narrated by: Angela Y. Davis
- Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With her characteristic brilliance, grace, and radical audacity, Angela Y. Davis has put the case for the latest abolition movement in American life: the abolition of the prison. As she quite correctly notes, American life is replete with abolition movements, and when they were engaged in these struggles, their chances of success seemed almost unthinkable. In Are Prisons Obsolete?, Professor Davis seeks to illustrate that the time for the prison is approaching an end. She argues forthrightly for "decarceration," and argues for the transformation of the society as a whole.
-
-
Buying the paperback now too
- By Theresa Frey on 03-14-23
By: Angela Y. Davis
-
34 Years in Hell
- My Time Inside America's Toughest Prisons
- By: James Morgan Kane
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In July 1983, James Morgan Kane returned home in the evening to find a corpse in his living room. Fearing that he would be held responsible, and sensing that his wife was involved, he wanted to do all he could to protect his young family. Jamie worked through the night to dispose of the body. But his luck ran out days later, as he was arrested and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Jamie entered the American prison system and was to stay there for 34 years with stints in San Quentin, Folsom State Prison and the notorious Deuel Vocational Institution in California.
-
-
Big Fish Story
- By Bill on 09-26-23
-
Newjack
- Guarding Sing Sing
- By: Ted Conover
- Narrated by: Ted Conover
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As he struggles to be a good officer, Ted Conover angers inmates, dodges blows, works to balance decency with toughness, and participates in prison rituals - strip frisks, cell searches, cell "extractions" - that exact a toll on inmates and officers alike. The tale begins with the corrections academy and ends with the flames and smoke of New Year's Eve on Conover's floor of the notorious B-Block. Along the way, Conover also recounts the history of Sing Sing.
-
-
THE BEST BOOK ON PRISON LIFE I HAVE EVER READ!!!
- By Steve on 06-27-09
By: Ted Conover
-
Hard Time
- By: Shaun Attwood
- Narrated by: Randal Schaffer
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a SWAT team smashed down stock-market millionaire Shaun Attwood's door, he found himself inside of Arizona's deadliest jail and locked into a brutal struggle for survival. Shaun's hope of living the American Dream turned into a nightmare of violence and chaos, when he had a run-in with Sammy the Bull Gravano, an Italian Mafia mass murderer. Join Shaun on a harrowing voyage into the darkest recesses of human existence.
-
-
Bad Ending.
- By Nick on 12-01-17
By: Shaun Attwood
-
Prison Stories
- By: Seth Ferranti
- Narrated by: Don Kline
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fans of Iceberg Slim's Pimp Tales and HBO's OZ series will really dig this. In Prison Stories, Seth Ferranti brings forth a powerful memoir of life in federal prisons in the 1990s when the "war on drugs" and mandatory minimums were in full effect, quadrupling the population of the Bureau of Prisons.
-
-
Very Interesting!
- By Alejandro on 01-25-19
By: Seth Ferranti
-
Locked In
- The True Causes of Mass Incarceration - and How to Achieve Real Reform
- By: John F. Pfaff
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Locked In is a revelatory investigation into the root causes of mass incarceration by one of the most exciting scholars in the country. Having spent 15 years studying the data on imprisonment, John Pfaff takes apart the reigning consensus created by Michelle Alexander and other reformers, revealing that the most widely accepted explanations - the failed War on Drugs, draconian sentencing laws, an increasing reliance on private prisons - tell us much less than we think.
-
-
The true causes of Mass Incarceration
- By Ekaterinya Vladinakova on 04-17-20
By: John F. Pfaff
-
Are Prisons Obsolete?
- By: Angela Y. Davis
- Narrated by: Angela Y. Davis
- Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With her characteristic brilliance, grace, and radical audacity, Angela Y. Davis has put the case for the latest abolition movement in American life: the abolition of the prison. As she quite correctly notes, American life is replete with abolition movements, and when they were engaged in these struggles, their chances of success seemed almost unthinkable. In Are Prisons Obsolete?, Professor Davis seeks to illustrate that the time for the prison is approaching an end. She argues forthrightly for "decarceration," and argues for the transformation of the society as a whole.
-
-
Buying the paperback now too
- By Theresa Frey on 03-14-23
By: Angela Y. Davis
-
34 Years in Hell
- My Time Inside America's Toughest Prisons
- By: James Morgan Kane
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In July 1983, James Morgan Kane returned home in the evening to find a corpse in his living room. Fearing that he would be held responsible, and sensing that his wife was involved, he wanted to do all he could to protect his young family. Jamie worked through the night to dispose of the body. But his luck ran out days later, as he was arrested and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Jamie entered the American prison system and was to stay there for 34 years with stints in San Quentin, Folsom State Prison and the notorious Deuel Vocational Institution in California.
-
-
Big Fish Story
- By Bill on 09-26-23
-
Newjack
- Guarding Sing Sing
- By: Ted Conover
- Narrated by: Ted Conover
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As he struggles to be a good officer, Ted Conover angers inmates, dodges blows, works to balance decency with toughness, and participates in prison rituals - strip frisks, cell searches, cell "extractions" - that exact a toll on inmates and officers alike. The tale begins with the corrections academy and ends with the flames and smoke of New Year's Eve on Conover's floor of the notorious B-Block. Along the way, Conover also recounts the history of Sing Sing.
-
-
THE BEST BOOK ON PRISON LIFE I HAVE EVER READ!!!
- By Steve on 06-27-09
By: Ted Conover
-
Hard Time
- By: Shaun Attwood
- Narrated by: Randal Schaffer
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a SWAT team smashed down stock-market millionaire Shaun Attwood's door, he found himself inside of Arizona's deadliest jail and locked into a brutal struggle for survival. Shaun's hope of living the American Dream turned into a nightmare of violence and chaos, when he had a run-in with Sammy the Bull Gravano, an Italian Mafia mass murderer. Join Shaun on a harrowing voyage into the darkest recesses of human existence.
-
-
Bad Ending.
- By Nick on 12-01-17
By: Shaun Attwood
-
The New Jim Crow
- Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, 10th Anniversary Edition
- By: Michelle Alexander
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton
- Length: 16 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seldom does a book have the impact of Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. Since it was first published in 2010, it has been cited in judicial decisions and has been adopted in campus-wide and community-wide reads; it helped inspire the creation of the Marshall Project and the new $100 million Art for Justice Fund; it has been the winner of numerous prizes, including the prestigious NAACP Image Award; and it has spent nearly 250 weeks on the New York Times best seller list.
-
-
Shocking, Important and Brilliant
- By Tim on 10-06-14
-
Blood in the Water
- The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy
- By: Heather Ann Thompson
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 22 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On September 9, 1971, nearly 1,300 prisoners took over the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York to protest years of mistreatment. Holding guards and civilian employees hostage, the prisoners negotiated with officials for improved conditions during the four long days and nights that followed. On September 13, the state abruptly sent hundreds of heavily armed troopers and correction officers to retake the prison by force. Their gunfire killed 39 men - hostages as well as prisoners.
-
-
Tragic Events, Well-Told
- By David on 10-27-17
-
Rikers
- An Oral History
- By: Graham Rayman, Reuven Blau
- Narrated by: Nathan Agin, Jonathan Beville, Nancy Bober, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What happens when you pack almost a dozen jails, bulging at the seams with society’s cast-offs, onto a spit of landfill purposefully hidden from public view? Prize-winning journalists Graham Rayman and Reuven Blau have spent two years interviewing more than 130 people comprising a broad cross section of lives touched by New York City's Rikers Island prison complex—from incarcerated people and their relatives, to officers, lawyers, and commissioners, with stories spanning the 1970s to the present day. The portrait that emerges calls into question the very nature of justice in America.
-
-
Great book!
- By FriscoBX153 on 01-28-23
By: Graham Rayman, and others
-
The Real Anthony Fauci
- Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health
- By: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- Narrated by: Bruce Wagner
- Length: 27 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Real Anthony Fauci details how Fauci, Gates, and their cohorts use their control of media outlets, scientific journals, key government and quasi-governmental agencies, global intelligence agencies, and influential scientists and physicians to flood the public with fearful propaganda about COVID-19 virulence and pathogenesis, and to muzzle debate and ruthlessly censor dissent.
-
-
Could be shorter
- By Evan Snow on 01-03-22
-
Evicted
- Poverty and Profit in the American City
- By: Matthew Desmond
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Evicted, Princeton sociologist and MacArthur “Genius” Matthew Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they each struggle to keep a roof over their heads. Hailed as “wrenching and revelatory” (The Nation), “vivid and unsettling” (New York Review of Books), Evicted transforms our understanding of poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving one of twenty-first-century America’s most devastating problems. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible.
-
-
Former Property Manager
- By Charla on 05-18-16
By: Matthew Desmond
-
The Black Hand
- The Bloody Rise and Redemption of "Boxer" Enriquez, a Mexican Mob Killer
- By: Chris Blatchford
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rene "Boxer" Enriquez grew up on the violent streets of East L.A., where gang fights, robberies, and drive-by shootings were fueled by rage, drugs, and alcohol. When he finally landed in prison - at the age of 19 - Enriquez found an organization that brought him the respect he always wanted: the near-mythic and widely feared Mexican Mafia, La Eme. What the organization saw in Enriquez was a young man who knew no fear and would kill anyone - justifiably or not - in the blink of an eye.
-
-
Intense, brutal, and informative
- By E on 07-08-15
By: Chris Blatchford
-
Empire of Pain
- The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The prize-winning and best-selling author of Say Nothing presents a grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin. Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling.
-
-
Full Account of the Sackler Conspiracy
- By Edward Bisch on 04-13-21
-
Just Mercy
- A Story of Justice and Redemption
- By: Bryan Stevenson
- Narrated by: Bryan Stevenson
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
-
-
Made me question justice, peers and myself.
- By Kristy VL on 04-17-15
By: Bryan Stevenson
-
Corrections in Ink
- A Memoir
- By: Keri Blakinger
- Narrated by: Keri Blakinger
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Keri Blakinger always lived life at full throttle. Growing up, that meant throwing herself into competitive figure skating with an all-consuming passion that led her to nationals. But when her skating career suddenly fell apart, that meant diving into self-destruction with the intensity she once saved for the ice. For the next nine years, Keri ricocheted from one dark place to the next: living on the streets, selling drugs and sex, and shooting up between classes all while trying to hold herself together enough to finish her degree at Cornell.
-
-
Brutal honesty, great listen
- By Enzo G. on 06-12-22
By: Keri Blakinger
-
Life Sentence
- The Brief and Tragic Career of Baltimore’s Deadliest Gang Leader
- By: Mark Bowden
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this unprecedented deep dive into inner-city gang life, Mark Bowden takes listeners inside a Baltimore gang, offers an in-depth portrait of its notorious leader, and chronicles the 2016 FBI investigation that landed eight gang members in prison.
-
-
Good book, but needs to be re-cast.
- By Carey Chiaia on 06-08-23
By: Mark Bowden
-
Getting Life
- An Innocent Man’s 25-Year Journey from Prison to Peace
- By: Michael Morton
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On August 13, 1986, just one day after his 32nd birthday, Michael Morton went to work at his usual time. By the end of the day, his wife Christine had been savagely bludgeoned to death in the couple's bed - and the Williamson County Sherriff's office in Texas wasted no time in pinning her murder on Michael, despite an absolute lack of physical evidence. Michael was swiftly sentenced to life in prison for a crime he had not committed
-
-
A must read
- By Kevlar314 on 04-23-15
By: Michael Morton
-
"Prisons Make Us Safer"
- And 20 Other Myths About Mass Incarceration
- By: Victoria Law
- Narrated by: Melissa Moran
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The United States incarcerates more of its residents than any other nation. Though home to five percent of the global population, the United States has nearly 25 percent of the world’s prisoners - a total of over two million people. This number continues to steadily rise. Over the past 40 years, the number of people behind bars in the United States has increased by 500 percent.
-
-
Leftist propaganda
- By Claude Bacchia on 04-21-21
By: Victoria Law
Critic reviews
“American Prison reprises [Bauer’s] page-turning narrative [as reported in Mother Jones], and adds not only the fascinating back story of CCA, the nation’s first private prison company, but also an eye-opening examination of the history of corrections as a profit-making enterprise.... Bauer is a generous narrator with a nice ear for detail, and his colleagues come across as sympathetic characters, with a few notable exceptions.... The sheer number of forehead-slapping quotes from Bauer’s superiors and fellow guards alone are worth the price of admission." (The New York Times Book Review)
“American Prison is both the remarkable story of a journalist who spent four months working as a corrections officer, and a horrifying exposé of how prisoners were treated by a corporation that profited from them.... It’s Bauer’s investigative chops, though, that make American Prison so essential. He dedicated his time at Winn to talking with prisoners and guards, who were unaware that he was a journalist.... Based on his firsthand experience and these conversations, he paints a damning picture of prisoner mistreatment and under-staffing at the prison, where morale among the incarcerated and the employees was poor. The stories he tells are deeply sad and consistently infuriating... An enraging, necessary look at the private prison system, and a convincing clarion call for prison reform.” (NPR.org)
“A relentless and uncompromising book, one that takes a crowbar to the private prison industry and yanks hard, letting just enough daylight slip inside to illuminate the contours of the beast.... The private prison industry is booming once again. To find out what that means for real people - both those who guard and those who are guarded - American Prison is the place to begin.” (San Francisco Chronicle)
- One of Boston Globe’s Best Books of 2018
- One of San Francisco Chronicle’s 10 Best Books of 2018
- One of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2018
- Featured in Mother Jones’ Favorite Nonfiction of 2018
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
34 Years in Hell
- My Time Inside America's Toughest Prisons
- By: James Morgan Kane
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In July 1983, James Morgan Kane returned home in the evening to find a corpse in his living room. Fearing that he would be held responsible, and sensing that his wife was involved, he wanted to do all he could to protect his young family. Jamie worked through the night to dispose of the body. But his luck ran out days later, as he was arrested and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Jamie entered the American prison system and was to stay there for 34 years with stints in San Quentin, Folsom State Prison and the notorious Deuel Vocational Institution in California.
-
-
Big Fish Story
- By Bill on 09-26-23
-
Are Prisons Obsolete?
- By: Angela Y. Davis
- Narrated by: Angela Y. Davis
- Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With her characteristic brilliance, grace, and radical audacity, Angela Y. Davis has put the case for the latest abolition movement in American life: the abolition of the prison. As she quite correctly notes, American life is replete with abolition movements, and when they were engaged in these struggles, their chances of success seemed almost unthinkable. In Are Prisons Obsolete?, Professor Davis seeks to illustrate that the time for the prison is approaching an end. She argues forthrightly for "decarceration," and argues for the transformation of the society as a whole.
-
-
Buying the paperback now too
- By Theresa Frey on 03-14-23
By: Angela Y. Davis
-
The New Jim Crow
- Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, 10th Anniversary Edition
- By: Michelle Alexander
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton
- Length: 16 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seldom does a book have the impact of Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. Since it was first published in 2010, it has been cited in judicial decisions and has been adopted in campus-wide and community-wide reads; it helped inspire the creation of the Marshall Project and the new $100 million Art for Justice Fund; it has been the winner of numerous prizes, including the prestigious NAACP Image Award; and it has spent nearly 250 weeks on the New York Times best seller list.
-
-
Shocking, Important and Brilliant
- By Tim on 10-06-14
-
Evicted
- Poverty and Profit in the American City
- By: Matthew Desmond
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Evicted, Princeton sociologist and MacArthur “Genius” Matthew Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they each struggle to keep a roof over their heads. Hailed as “wrenching and revelatory” (The Nation), “vivid and unsettling” (New York Review of Books), Evicted transforms our understanding of poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving one of twenty-first-century America’s most devastating problems. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible.
-
-
Former Property Manager
- By Charla on 05-18-16
By: Matthew Desmond
-
Just Mercy
- A Story of Justice and Redemption
- By: Bryan Stevenson
- Narrated by: Bryan Stevenson
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
-
-
Made me question justice, peers and myself.
- By Kristy VL on 04-17-15
By: Bryan Stevenson
-
Poverty, by America
- By: Matthew Desmond
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages?
-
-
A testimonial based on facts and witness
- By Alonzo Nightjar on 03-27-23
By: Matthew Desmond
-
34 Years in Hell
- My Time Inside America's Toughest Prisons
- By: James Morgan Kane
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In July 1983, James Morgan Kane returned home in the evening to find a corpse in his living room. Fearing that he would be held responsible, and sensing that his wife was involved, he wanted to do all he could to protect his young family. Jamie worked through the night to dispose of the body. But his luck ran out days later, as he was arrested and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Jamie entered the American prison system and was to stay there for 34 years with stints in San Quentin, Folsom State Prison and the notorious Deuel Vocational Institution in California.
-
-
Big Fish Story
- By Bill on 09-26-23
-
Are Prisons Obsolete?
- By: Angela Y. Davis
- Narrated by: Angela Y. Davis
- Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With her characteristic brilliance, grace, and radical audacity, Angela Y. Davis has put the case for the latest abolition movement in American life: the abolition of the prison. As she quite correctly notes, American life is replete with abolition movements, and when they were engaged in these struggles, their chances of success seemed almost unthinkable. In Are Prisons Obsolete?, Professor Davis seeks to illustrate that the time for the prison is approaching an end. She argues forthrightly for "decarceration," and argues for the transformation of the society as a whole.
-
-
Buying the paperback now too
- By Theresa Frey on 03-14-23
By: Angela Y. Davis
-
The New Jim Crow
- Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, 10th Anniversary Edition
- By: Michelle Alexander
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton
- Length: 16 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seldom does a book have the impact of Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. Since it was first published in 2010, it has been cited in judicial decisions and has been adopted in campus-wide and community-wide reads; it helped inspire the creation of the Marshall Project and the new $100 million Art for Justice Fund; it has been the winner of numerous prizes, including the prestigious NAACP Image Award; and it has spent nearly 250 weeks on the New York Times best seller list.
-
-
Shocking, Important and Brilliant
- By Tim on 10-06-14
-
Evicted
- Poverty and Profit in the American City
- By: Matthew Desmond
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Evicted, Princeton sociologist and MacArthur “Genius” Matthew Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they each struggle to keep a roof over their heads. Hailed as “wrenching and revelatory” (The Nation), “vivid and unsettling” (New York Review of Books), Evicted transforms our understanding of poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving one of twenty-first-century America’s most devastating problems. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible.
-
-
Former Property Manager
- By Charla on 05-18-16
By: Matthew Desmond
-
Just Mercy
- A Story of Justice and Redemption
- By: Bryan Stevenson
- Narrated by: Bryan Stevenson
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
-
-
Made me question justice, peers and myself.
- By Kristy VL on 04-17-15
By: Bryan Stevenson
-
Poverty, by America
- By: Matthew Desmond
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages?
-
-
A testimonial based on facts and witness
- By Alonzo Nightjar on 03-27-23
By: Matthew Desmond
What listeners say about American Prison
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mike
- 11-20-18
Dark, entertaining, and informative.
Quite possibly one of the most entertaining non-fiction books I’ve ever read. A glimpse into the twisted world of the American prison system that will throw you into an emotional whirlwind of anger, sadness, and hopelessness.
An important read if we are ever going to fix this deeply broken piece of our society. We have 4% of the world’s population yet 1/4 of its prisoners. The goal seems to be to make prison profitable, not to rehabilitate criminals. If you are a true patriot and care about the USA, you’ll read this book!
The narration is very well done also.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mev K.
- 12-05-18
Intense
Enjoyable, interesting, intense. Once I started listening on Audible, I couldn’t stop until I was completely finished. A bit too much detail on the history of U.S. prisons, but all in all satisfying. Great work by the author on exposing the truth about private prisons in America.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 10-02-18
A history of slavery and an explanation of how it continues.
This is an insiders account of how corrupted and despicable the American prison system is.
Everything is a commodity. Everything is a for-profit venture in a system as parasitic as ours.
Other countries such as Norway genuinely try to rehabilitate their criminals. America only seems them as yet another source of profit.
Don’t turn away. Read. We must understand how the system works if we are to fight it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- LEE
- 12-11-18
It's a scary book.
Shane Bauer was brutally honest - that's why I recommend the book. He describes prison conditions and how it shaped his character in 4 short months. Prison immersion changes people, believe it.
Government allows private prisons because they're cheaper, plain and simple. By the end of the book, one understands this forward and backward.
The book gives a window into how things actually work in private prisons, the cold logic that prevails while most of the rest falls off. It's difficult for the mind to reconcile such differences, but one learns to accept them.
The scary thing is how the historical sections of the book don't support any reason to hope things are going to get better.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Roger
- 12-08-18
Wow!
This is an amazing investigative journey. The way the author gives historical lesson while he works as an undercover guard is fantastic. He takes a gut wrenching look at the history of warehousing people for money.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jennifer Friedman
- 10-23-20
Abolish private prisons now!
This book is a fascinating, brutal and hard to put down look into private prisons. The impression it left on me will be hard to shake. CCA/Core Civic, GEO group, and their peers are evil.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Paladin Jr
- 07-13-19
Great behind the scenes look at for profit prisons
I went through this book in about 4 days. the narrator does a great job. and the book is easily comprehended at 1.9x speed. I will say I was a little annoyed by the different voices the narrator would use to sound like another guard, or prisoner, or another person in the book. But that was my only complaint.
I loved getting a behind the scenes look at the prison, particularly profit prison industry. the author does a great job of weaving his experience in with historical facts about the birth of criminal justice and capitalism.
I would say the only thing I would have liked to know more about was how the author would compare his time in a foreign prison with his time as an officer. he shared a little about this. I feel like I wanted to know more.
Great read for someone involved in activism, education, community development, justice, law.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- SailorSoldier
- 09-07-20
Connecting money, race & imprisonment
I enjoyed this. The author connects historical facts that make America’s love of incarceration make more sense. The narrator is good. Just right for the story. I had never heard of convict leasing before and I appreciate the details that emerged while listening to this book. Bravo.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sonia Allison
- 12-26-18
The audio actor makes fakey sounds
The audio narration is bad, especially towards the
Black voices. They make a cartoon bigoted sound each time there is dialog. Plus the audio actor is like, Now ANGER! for how forced and lacking sense and out of sync with the words being spoken.
The book is still essential
prison abolition reading.
Although, a few of the writer's glaring whitenesses aught to be edited. For instance, early describes a worker,
"She is pretty in a popular-girl-in-high-school
sort of way:
early twenties, white, petite."
Examples of that whiteness
runs throughout.
So much here though,
does reveal prisons as the slavery and torture they are.
Especially loved the description of PTSD from the author's own previously caged person's perspective.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- horsestuff
- 12-20-20
Hard to listen to
I trust that the information in this book that goes beyond the author’s first hand experience was researched and is accurate. - I have no reason to believe otherwise but haven’t done the homework myself. It’s hard to believe that people can be so cruel and hard to listen to but something we all need to know.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!