What do you think?
Rate this book
Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire
In the prison business, all roads lead to Texas. A pioneer in criminal justice severity―from assembly-line executions to supermax isolation, from mandatory sentencing to prison privatization―Texas is the most locked-down state in the most incarcerated country in the world. Texas Tough , a sweeping history of American imprisonment from the days of slavery to the present, explains how a plantation-based penal system once dismissed as barbaric became a template for the nation.
Drawing on the individual stories as well as authoritative research, Texas Tough reveals the true origins of America's prison juggernaut and points toward a more just and humane future.
Drawing on the individual stories as well as authoritative research, Texas Tough reveals the true origins of America's prison juggernaut and points toward a more just and humane future.
496 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
50 people are currently reading
1449 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
May 13, 2010
I wrote this book, and I learned quite a lot in the process.
March 3, 2014
After spending three weeks in a courtroom, and watching our criminal justice system in action, I've become very interested, almost obsessively, in that system. In particular, something happened in 1970 or so, and the prison population, mostly African Americans, has quadrupled since that date, after staying pretty much flat for many decades. I wanted to read (and still will) "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" but this book came across my desk first. It is, essentially, a history book of the prisons in the last 200 years. It is also, unfortunately, a story of how slavery was replaced in Southern states (particularly Texas) with a system of prisons that remarkably resembles slavery. Thousands of black convicts, treated like farm animals, worked in plantations under the eyes of white men on horses with guns, while the plantation owners got rich.
Like MLK, Perkinson seems to believe "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice," or at least his Conclusion seems to indicate that. However, the rest of his book hardly supports that. First, it's not an arc, more like a declining sine wave, going up and down, and the trend toward justice seems to take centuries. The language of racism has changed, but it remains very strong in parts of this country.
Like MLK, Perkinson seems to believe "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice," or at least his Conclusion seems to indicate that. However, the rest of his book hardly supports that. First, it's not an arc, more like a declining sine wave, going up and down, and the trend toward justice seems to take centuries. The language of racism has changed, but it remains very strong in parts of this country.
September 25, 2010
I really enjoyed the history, but felt the arguments for why the South was at the forefront of the prison movement became a little thin.
May 16, 2014
3.5/5. Texas Tough is a thoroughly detailed and well-argued work overall. It gives readers a glimpse into competing social visions for the role of prisons in America and their evolution over time. Perkinson demonstrates how Texas’s iterations were founded initially on notions of plantation labor and inherent racial difference and later on states’ rights resulting in profit and power for those who held the keys. Perkinson does a wonderful job of illustrating what he calls the prison’s “corrosive cycle” of crisis, reform, and disappointment and the role that prisoners played in resisting the worst abuses – classic ground-up history. His argument falters slightly as he explores the counterrevolution era – he demonstrates ably how conservatives recoded racial language into anti-crime slogans with deleterious impact on people of color yet he abandons the profit-making argument for the prison. I was disappointed that he failed to include anything substantive on the industry of prison management and its major players although I acknowledge that access to primary source documentation may be a major issue here. Also less than successful is Perkinson’s inelegant charting of Bush II’s ascension from Texas royalty to the presidency. Perkinson makes a tenuous connection to Bush’s apparent callousness towards clemency and prisoner’s human rights to the well-documented and stomach-turning abuses at Abu Ghraib. The connection as a whole seems far less effective than demonstrating, for instance, how concentrating power in the executive may have enhanced the power of the prison-industrial complex. Despite an awkward final chapter, however, I’d really recommend this as a way to learn about the colossal power of the prison in Texan history.
April 19, 2015
An exhaustingly comprehensive account of the many transformations of Texas's penal system. Does a great job of depicting convict conditions under each regime, and also of the political and economic considerations that propelled Texas officials toward rehabilitation then back toward punishment. I found it hard to keep track of all the individual people, and thought the ending comparison about Bush's War on Terror was a weak connection.
May 7, 2016
Blech . . . bleeding-heart book whining about the fact that TX doesn't "play" in a nation that supersedes the rest of the world when it comes to lock-down and capital punishment.
Yea, well, in other countries they just KILL 'EM DEAD. Incarceration is big business--for everyone involved.
Yea, well, in other countries they just KILL 'EM DEAD. Incarceration is big business--for everyone involved.
July 7, 2010
Phenomenal book. If you only read one book about the us criminal justice system, read this one.
May 5, 2019
This book probably only deserves 3.5 stars, but I cannot help but highly recommend it. Even though it focuses on only Texas, it tells the story of the role of prisons in all of the US. It becomes more clear from reading this book that the mass incarceration of today can be explained by one single narrative from the founding of the nation until today. The problem with this book, however, is that even though it's clear there is a story here, it is not crystallised clearly enough, and at times I feel that the author is trying to do too much. While all info in this book is interesting, not everything fits in and it makes you sometimes forget what you are reading and why. "Lest we consign ourselves to overly modest dreams, however, let us remember that slavery and segregation, too. once promised to rule forever. Even the widely unpopular convict lease system took half a century to dismantle. Yet unforeseen historical developments, along with dedicated people working together--some bonded, some free--ultimately toppled these ignominious institutions. IN the century that followed, prison reformers time anda gain prevailed over harsh regimes. In most cases, they created flawed institutions in their stead. Rather than harvesting regret alone, however, we can learn from their missed opportunities and partial successes. Only by taking honest stock of the full history of the prison can we plot our escape from it."
April 5, 2022
I live in Texas so this book probably held my interest more than it might others. I found the (approximately) first third and last third pretty interesting. The middle of the book drug and was hard to complete, but I am glad I did because the end of the book picked back up again. My mark against the book is that the author spent almost 300 pages describing everything that is dysfunctional with the system (and yes there is plenty) and about two pages presenting any idea about what needs to be done to correct any issues - and I am not sure he knows what he is talking about in those last two pages. It encouraged me to visit the Texas Prison Museum - quite a fascinating, yet sobering, visit.
November 21, 2018
An interesting approach on the development and sustaining power and influence of the Texas prison system. The author takes a partisan and political stance that focuses on Texas prisons as an institutionalization of slavery. Though politics have a strong influence in corrections, prisons, and criminal justice policy and practice at the state and federal level of government, I lost interest quickly toward the final 2-3 chapters due to the author's obvious over-focus on politics. The author's position on the matter is apparent throughout, such as his criticism of one political party over another.
April 24, 2023
A well-written leftist op-ed. I read the title and the synopsis but did not expect the author to insert race on nearly every page. I don't dismiss all of the data and racism documented here, but the author fails to actually portray the difference in the prison system of other states or countries. He simply created a straw man to knock down and offer no real solutions. If you're looking for many instances of racism and abuse in Texas prisons, this book delivers. If you're looking for a history of American prisons, look elsewhere.
April 30, 2021
While I learned some new things-such as prisoners who essentially became trustees to take essential roles, the book was long and dry. Many parts we're about as engaging as a high school text book. The same cycle seemed to present itself.. Rough horrible conditions, folks complain..conditions become easier. prisoners take advantage..back to rough horrible conditions. The author seems to want to show how a modern day prison harks back to slavery for minorities...but I couldn't really see it.
October 23, 2018
A comprehensive history of the penitentiary system in the US, with the unique approach being to examine all of the historical developments from their adoption in Texas. Exhaustive and pretty depressing, there's a lot of great information about how and why the prison system has ended up the way it has, and ends with some hope of how things might improve.
June 4, 2019
Thought provoking, eye opening, and heart breaking, this puts The Sugar Land 95 in a historical perspective and makes me wonder how many of my students are heading to the same fate. It is institutional racism on an ever growing scale. How can we implement change?
August 19, 2017
Loaded with detailed facts/ checked there bibliography
September 27, 2021
Best prison book in my mini library of prison books. Cannot recommend strongly enough. Anyone with an interest in politics or civic responsibility would be negligent in not reading this book.
Read
October 25, 2021DNF @17%
July 21, 2022
It’s simple - abolish prisons.
August 18, 2022
America’s casual acceptance of mass incarceration is one of our greatest shames. The entire system is corrupt and racist, and needs to be torn down completely.
April 25, 2024
3.5 rounded up
July 14, 2010
A thorough, diligently-researched, thought-provoking book that anyone interested in human rights, civil rights, public policy or prison reform should read, Texas Tough details the history of the Texas prison system and its spreading influence in the last half of the 20th century. Perkinson explores the racial disparities and inequalities of the penal system from its early days as a profitable forced-labor stepchild of slavery to more recent increases in racial disparities among prison populations and death penalty sentencing. A long history of abuses and their changing forms over time is thoroughly treated, and Perkinson has clearly spent more time in Texas than his book has me convinced anyone should in order to interview people involved on all sides of the system. The changes that have brought us to the current system don't exactly allow the story to end on a happy note; long before explicitly stating it Perkinson shows through historical example the repeating cycle of hopeful reformation, budgetary contraction, and crisis point once the system is stretched to broken. It is of possibly small consolation that given the economic crisis, strained state budgets, and political deemphasis of vindictive sentencing, we may be about to yet again pass from crisis to reformation. Unfortunately, as Perkinson shows, the reforms don't always improve conditions for inmates or guards.
The historical focus may be a deterrent to readers expecting a broader indictment of modern prison conditions; it surprised me that the book contained so much history, but I certainly learned a lot about Reformation, Jim Crow, and the civil rights movement, so I can't fault Texas Tough for that. Chapters are arranged chronologically, but within each chapter, Perkinson describes developments by topic and gives each its own chronology, leading to a bit of a temporal mishmash; for example, he jumps from discussing George W. Bush to Reagan back forward through the '90s within a few pages. These jumps occur repeatedly throughout the book, and make it confusing to see exactly what the effects of major influences like the civil rights movement or the Ruiz case were, and where individual events occurred on the timeline of prison evolution. Ideologically, the narrative is not unbiased, but it's mostly balanced, admitting many of the problems that arose with reform along with those that racism and "tough on crime" politics have given us. Discussions of the Patriot Act seem somewhat out of place, but they're only a few of the 375 pages and since George W. Bush was known for his death penalty stance as the governor of Texas before he was setting up Guantanamo and rolling back the fourth amendment, the connection is more solid than I might have thought before reading the book.
Overall, Texas Tough is incredibly insightful and above all informative. This is the kind of history that is rarely taught and not widely known.
The historical focus may be a deterrent to readers expecting a broader indictment of modern prison conditions; it surprised me that the book contained so much history, but I certainly learned a lot about Reformation, Jim Crow, and the civil rights movement, so I can't fault Texas Tough for that. Chapters are arranged chronologically, but within each chapter, Perkinson describes developments by topic and gives each its own chronology, leading to a bit of a temporal mishmash; for example, he jumps from discussing George W. Bush to Reagan back forward through the '90s within a few pages. These jumps occur repeatedly throughout the book, and make it confusing to see exactly what the effects of major influences like the civil rights movement or the Ruiz case were, and where individual events occurred on the timeline of prison evolution. Ideologically, the narrative is not unbiased, but it's mostly balanced, admitting many of the problems that arose with reform along with those that racism and "tough on crime" politics have given us. Discussions of the Patriot Act seem somewhat out of place, but they're only a few of the 375 pages and since George W. Bush was known for his death penalty stance as the governor of Texas before he was setting up Guantanamo and rolling back the fourth amendment, the connection is more solid than I might have thought before reading the book.
Overall, Texas Tough is incredibly insightful and above all informative. This is the kind of history that is rarely taught and not widely known.
September 8, 2015
I was eager for this book to arrive so that I could learn more about the history of the prison system, particularly in Texas; unfortunately, my eagerness for this tedious, plodding book to end far surpassed this initial anticipation.
Prepare yourself for a heavy helping of the word “sanguine” (sometimes spiced up a bit, with “sanguinity”); other than this repetition, the author writes as though he held his notes in one hand and a thesaurus in another. The sentences and paragraphs throughout this work are lofty at best, but more often just obtuse and awkward. There were rarely instances of conciseness, but many instances of exposition – the author devotes several pages to a minor folk singer who spent time in a Texas prison, but largely irrelevant to prison history.
Indeed, rather than a history of the prison system, this book focuses primarily on the history of slavery and how the author feels it has been institutionalized into prisons over time. While this is an interesting assertion and indeed a part of prison history, it is one component. It is interesting that there is little of note on prison management, private prison corporations, or even the architecture and internal workings of prisons over time.
Perhaps the most interesting – and failed – component of this work is the author’s attempt to link George W. Bush and his administration to Abu Gharib. The author’s effort to connect the Texas prison system with military action at Guantanamo Bay comes across as partisan and tenuous.
The last 1/3 of the book comprises the author’s notes section, presumably in an effort to lend credibility to the tome. While illuminating at points, this book was largely a bleeding heart assessment of Texas justice and a lament of the current prison environment. If you are interested in the social policy implications of criminal justice, you may find this an interesting read. For a historical assessment and survey, I recommend that you look elsewhere.
Prepare yourself for a heavy helping of the word “sanguine” (sometimes spiced up a bit, with “sanguinity”); other than this repetition, the author writes as though he held his notes in one hand and a thesaurus in another. The sentences and paragraphs throughout this work are lofty at best, but more often just obtuse and awkward. There were rarely instances of conciseness, but many instances of exposition – the author devotes several pages to a minor folk singer who spent time in a Texas prison, but largely irrelevant to prison history.
Indeed, rather than a history of the prison system, this book focuses primarily on the history of slavery and how the author feels it has been institutionalized into prisons over time. While this is an interesting assertion and indeed a part of prison history, it is one component. It is interesting that there is little of note on prison management, private prison corporations, or even the architecture and internal workings of prisons over time.
Perhaps the most interesting – and failed – component of this work is the author’s attempt to link George W. Bush and his administration to Abu Gharib. The author’s effort to connect the Texas prison system with military action at Guantanamo Bay comes across as partisan and tenuous.
The last 1/3 of the book comprises the author’s notes section, presumably in an effort to lend credibility to the tome. While illuminating at points, this book was largely a bleeding heart assessment of Texas justice and a lament of the current prison environment. If you are interested in the social policy implications of criminal justice, you may find this an interesting read. For a historical assessment and survey, I recommend that you look elsewhere.
November 2, 2013
the history of the last 170 years through the lens of the american (mostly texan) penal sytem. i did not know that prisons as we know them today are a relatively new phenomenon, and i did not know how horrific they were for inmates through much of that history.
prisons undoubtedly keep some dangerous people off the street. prisons undoubtedly deter some people from committing some crimes. i have oftentimes let people live only because the consequences are unsavory to me.
but such an unwieldy, costly, and in many ways inequitable system? it would be wonderful to find an alternative. one that recognizes the systemic causes of crime and attempts to reclaim individuals. of course this starts with poverty and culture.
our laws are largely a system of rules that allow 'haves' to keep 'havenots' from taking or damaging our stuff. and prisons, by and large, punish people who tried to take our stuff. that and minor drug offenders...let's not even talk about that.
in this book you'll hear about the texas political machine and its attitude toward crime and punishment. you'll read how texas executed mentally disabled people until the federal government outlawed it (IN 2004!). you'll read about lifelong convicts whose childhoods were worse than the brutal confinement they experience as adults.
personally, i feel safer with a certain class of offender in prison. but i wish for 3 things: 1, that we'd redirect some effort from punishment to rehabilitation, 2, that we'd decriminalize things like drugs and other victimless crimes, and 3, that things would just get better for the type of person who feels like he has to turn to crime in the first place.
well written, though cumbersome. informative, though disorganized. recommended for the idle liberal.
prisons undoubtedly keep some dangerous people off the street. prisons undoubtedly deter some people from committing some crimes. i have oftentimes let people live only because the consequences are unsavory to me.
but such an unwieldy, costly, and in many ways inequitable system? it would be wonderful to find an alternative. one that recognizes the systemic causes of crime and attempts to reclaim individuals. of course this starts with poverty and culture.
our laws are largely a system of rules that allow 'haves' to keep 'havenots' from taking or damaging our stuff. and prisons, by and large, punish people who tried to take our stuff. that and minor drug offenders...let's not even talk about that.
in this book you'll hear about the texas political machine and its attitude toward crime and punishment. you'll read how texas executed mentally disabled people until the federal government outlawed it (IN 2004!). you'll read about lifelong convicts whose childhoods were worse than the brutal confinement they experience as adults.
personally, i feel safer with a certain class of offender in prison. but i wish for 3 things: 1, that we'd redirect some effort from punishment to rehabilitation, 2, that we'd decriminalize things like drugs and other victimless crimes, and 3, that things would just get better for the type of person who feels like he has to turn to crime in the first place.
well written, though cumbersome. informative, though disorganized. recommended for the idle liberal.
October 27, 2013
I picked up this book because I'm interested in American prison policy. This wasn't exactly what I was looking for--it's more historical and dry than I'd hoped--but it's very well researched. I got about 1/3 of the way through before I put it down but feel like I learned a tremendous amount about the legacy of slavery in the South, the connection between the "tough on crime" movement and civil rights, and the prison industry. I went into the book thinking I didn't know enough about prisons in America. Now I know I don't know enough. But I do now know that our broken prison policy is an incredibly complex and devious problem--a problem that seems more about racism and oppression than about justice and public safety.
March 8, 2011
"Despite the historic victories of the civil rights movement -- culminating with the election of the country's first black president in 2008 -- the criminal justice patterns set during slavery and segregration have not faded away. Rather, according to key statistical indicators on crime, arrest, conviction, imprisonment, and release, the United States is dispensing less equitable justice today than it was a generation ago. Even as segregationist barriers to equal opportunity and achievement have crumbled in the free world, we have fortified the racial divide in criminal justice. Denied a place in society at large, Jim Crow has moved behind bars."
July 14, 2013
This book was incredibly interesting. Living in Texas, I had no idea just how much of an impact our criminal justice system had on the rest of the country. My one issue with the book is how it was written. At times, the writer could go on about things that didn't really seem to matter. He spent a good 20 pages on a folk singer that was in a Texas prison for a while (I may be exaggerating, but that's really how long it felt). Also, he is not a very concise writer. He would take 10 pages to say what he could in 1. This did make the book a challenge to get through occasionally. However, it was worth it.
December 15, 2011
Although the thesis gets a bit thin by the end (saying that the Texas penal system is responsible for Abu Ghraib? Ehhh...) it's really a fascinating look at a system very few know people know much about, except for those who have had the misfortune to experience it firsthand. The history and historical politics are really interesting, and makes me think that not a lot has changed. That liberal and punitive policies come in cycles, and that Texan culture has always been vengeful and domineering. Their way is just more popular now.
January 14, 2024
I found this to be the most frightening book I've ever read. As a student of Black History for the last couple of decades, I've discovered that this Nation was built by and on the backs of human beings in the form of stolen slave labor. In order for that to work, narratives needed pushed that the 'lowly white folks' easily accepted. 'Texas Tough' shows not only is this a proven FACT, but that it's continuing to this day. Our prison system, through it's three or so incarnations is in DIRE need of reform.
July 24, 2011
One of those books I repeatedly renewed from the library and then had to buy just to have one hand, because I know I'm going to forget most of it and have to reread in a couple of years. I've dog-eared almost every page to mark the bits worth reading twice. It's more than a look at Texan prisons; it's a rich history of the U.S. from slavery through to the present day. Disturbing, well-researched, well-written. Great book.
July 7, 2012
Some scary shit! Our country today has a higher percentage of its population incarcerated than almost any other in the history of humanity. Perhaps one reason this is so is that few on "the outside" really know what it means to be imprisoned in America in the 21st century. If you want a little glimpse "inside", read this book . . . and then ask yourself if anyone really deserves this fate for something like marijuana possession.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews