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The Prison-Industrial-Complex
Over the last generation, the U.S. prison systems have grown at a rate unparalleled in history, creating what many call a Prison Industrial Complex. Angela Davis explains what happens to our legal system when we lock up more people for longer sentences, which industries are a part of the Prison Industrial Complex, and how to stop or slow prison growth.
Audio CD
First published January 1, 2000
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About the author
Angela Y. Davis
126 books7,599 followersAngela Yvonne Davis is an American political activist, scholar, and author. She emerged as a nationally prominent activist and radical in the 1960s, as a leader of the Communist Party USA, and had close relations with the Black Panther Party through her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement despite never being an official member of the party. Prisoner rights have been among her continuing interests; she is the founder of Critical Resistance, an organization working to abolish the prison-industrial complex. She is a retired professor with the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and is the former director of the university's Feminist Studies department.
Her research interests are in feminism, African American studies, critical theory, Marxism, popular music, social consciousness, and the philosophy and history of punishment and prisons. Her membership in the Communist Party led to Ronald Reagan's request in 1969 to have her barred from teaching at any university in the State of California. She was tried and acquitted of suspected involvement in the Soledad brothers' August 1970 abduction and murder of Judge Harold Haley in Marin County, California. She was twice a candidate for Vice President on the Communist Party USA ticket during the 1980s.
Her research interests are in feminism, African American studies, critical theory, Marxism, popular music, social consciousness, and the philosophy and history of punishment and prisons. Her membership in the Communist Party led to Ronald Reagan's request in 1969 to have her barred from teaching at any university in the State of California. She was tried and acquitted of suspected involvement in the Soledad brothers' August 1970 abduction and murder of Judge Harold Haley in Marin County, California. She was twice a candidate for Vice President on the Communist Party USA ticket during the 1980s.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 27, 2025
Highly recommended - looks at this problem while offering solutions to help avoid future mistakes. Complex issues of incarceration are examined through the eyes of someone who was at the center of questionable tactics used by local, state and federal law enforcement. So many of the topics covered are still here today - a very important work.
February 14, 2008
INCREDIBLE. This woman is a genius and I am inspired by her everytime I listen to her speak. A living legend and I always say...
WWAD when I ask my self those questions about strength and courage in the face of adversity...
WHAT WOULD ANGELA DO? ")
WWAD when I ask my self those questions about strength and courage in the face of adversity...
WHAT WOULD ANGELA DO? ")
January 30, 2014
got this on audiobook thinking it was a whole book - it's just an hour or so long lecture. good intro if you don't know anything about it, but I was hoping for some more depth and a philosopher's perspective. great intro though!
July 1, 2020
soaking up every single word. She's amazing and such an intelligent, fascinating and smart woman
July 28, 2015
Angela Davis for POTUS! Really! Great Thinker!! Real Issues and Real solutions!!
January 10, 2024
The continued relevance of this is scary and disappointing. Highly recommend it's a one hour listen free on Spotify!
October 17, 2021
So!!! Good!!!
August 14, 2024
As incisive and urgent as it was during its original publishing over two decades ago, this oration by Angela Davis should be required listening/reading. Succinct, percipient, and ultimately a rousing call to action for us all to consider how we can enact change in our own communities and not give way to helplessness or despair at seemingly intractable systems of oppression.
April 28, 2025
4.75
Such a nice speach, such clever and well articulated thoughts. Touched a lot of subjects too, with lots of clairvoyance.
A few "chapters" stood out to me :
-The Anti-immigrant Rhetoric : When she talks about how race impacts how people perceive and call to discriminate against immigration. Talking about white people from Europe (which is btw where the majority of immigrants come from in the US) illegally staying in the US after for instance a student visa, she says : « They do not feel threatened [...] they are not even afraid, whereas people who are "legal citizens" but who "look as if they might come from another country" fear what the INS might do to them.»
- The War on drugs : In this part, she talks about how the "war on drugs" is really a war on certain drugs, which of course is political. On one hand , some drugs are declared illicit when they can be used as a tool for class+racial discrimination, whereas on the other hand, "legal" drugs serve as tools to empower the pharmaceutical industry, at the expense of human health, and no matter how damaging they can actually be, whilst being sold as solutions (she gives the following example : smocking crack = 5 years in prison vs prozac [in great majority prescribed for white people] = perfectly legal, when actually super addictive and toxic).
- The Prison Industrial Complex : In which she explains her choice of words. She states this prisons are an equivalent to modern-day slavery, especially because more and more are getting built by private corporations. She says : "One of the most developed sectors of the construction industry is prison construction. [...] Prisons have been privatized. [...] Private corporations move in to take advantage of prison labor, because it is as cheap, oftentimes, or almost as cheap as third world labor. [...] Prisons are becoming an integral part of the US economy, which means that there are stakes other than the anti-crime stakes, that will keep the prison industry expanding. [...] So it's acquiring its own momentum, which if we don't attempt to intervene and stop it now, into the next millennium we will be an increasingly incarcerated society."
Such a nice speach, such clever and well articulated thoughts. Touched a lot of subjects too, with lots of clairvoyance.
A few "chapters" stood out to me :
-The Anti-immigrant Rhetoric : When she talks about how race impacts how people perceive and call to discriminate against immigration. Talking about white people from Europe (which is btw where the majority of immigrants come from in the US) illegally staying in the US after for instance a student visa, she says : « They do not feel threatened [...] they are not even afraid, whereas people who are "legal citizens" but who "look as if they might come from another country" fear what the INS might do to them.»
- The War on drugs : In this part, she talks about how the "war on drugs" is really a war on certain drugs, which of course is political. On one hand , some drugs are declared illicit when they can be used as a tool for class+racial discrimination, whereas on the other hand, "legal" drugs serve as tools to empower the pharmaceutical industry, at the expense of human health, and no matter how damaging they can actually be, whilst being sold as solutions (she gives the following example : smocking crack = 5 years in prison vs prozac [in great majority prescribed for white people] = perfectly legal, when actually super addictive and toxic).
- The Prison Industrial Complex : In which she explains her choice of words. She states this prisons are an equivalent to modern-day slavery, especially because more and more are getting built by private corporations. She says : "One of the most developed sectors of the construction industry is prison construction. [...] Prisons have been privatized. [...] Private corporations move in to take advantage of prison labor, because it is as cheap, oftentimes, or almost as cheap as third world labor. [...] Prisons are becoming an integral part of the US economy, which means that there are stakes other than the anti-crime stakes, that will keep the prison industry expanding. [...] So it's acquiring its own momentum, which if we don't attempt to intervene and stop it now, into the next millennium we will be an increasingly incarcerated society."
June 1, 2020
on Spotify
June 19, 2020
Everyday the United States is like "I think I will create problems on purpose" and we're all just like "you're doing amazing sweetie"
December 19, 2020
She preached.
June 18, 2020
angela davis is so so smart. an iconic figure truly
December 14, 2023
Short, sweet, and to the point
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews