Waubonsee Community College

The big house in a small town, prisons, communities, and economics in rural America, Eric J. Williams

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 139-149) and index

index present

non fiction

The big house in a small town

bibliographydictionaries

714881024

Eric J. Williams

prisons, communities, and economics in rural America

A recent study by the Urban Institute estimates that one-third of all counties in the United States house a prison, and that our prison and jail population is now over 2.1 million. Another report indicates that more than 97 percent of all U.S. prisoners are eventually released, and communities are absorbing nearly 650,000 formerly incarcerated individuals each year. These figures are particularly alarming considering the fact that rural communities are using prisons as economic development vehicles without fully understanding the effects of these jails on the areaThis book is the result of author Eric J. Williams's ground-level research about the effects of prisons upon two rural American communities that lobbied to host maximum security prisons. Through hundreds of interviews conducted while living in Florence, Colorado, and Beeville, Texas, Williams offers the perspective of local residents on all sides of the issue, as well as a social history told mainly from the standpoint of those who lobbied for the prisons. --Book Jacket

Introduction -- Moving in, walking, and talking: gathering information -- History and geography -- Citizens and hermits -- The community's store -- Cops and correction -- Conclusion