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Abstract: 

Recent bipartisan support for prison reform, although welcomed, seems to contradict the reality of continued prison growth being used as a vehicle for economic development. What does it say when communities argue for new jail space through appeals to therapeutic justice and rehabilitation when they should be organizing to close facilities, decarcerate populations, and demand just employment agendas for depressed rural economies.

Keywords: New York Times; “End Mass Incarceration Now,” 2014; prison economy; public-order offenses; benevolent expansion; increased carceral capacity; “quality-of-life offenses”; debtor’s prison

Affiliations:  1: Eastern Kentucky University.