The Prison of Democracy: Race, Leavenworth, and the Culture of Law

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Built in the 1890s at the center of the nation, Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary was designed specifically to be a replica of the US Capitol Building. But why? The Prison of Democracy explains the political significance of a prison built to mimic one of America's monuments to democracy. Locating Leavenworth in memory, history, and law, the prison geographically sits at the borders of Indian Territory (1825-1854) and Bleeding Kansas (1854-1864), both sites of contestation over slavery and freedom. Author Sara M. Benson argues that Leavenworth reshaped the design of punishment in America by gradually normalizing state-inflicted violence against citizens. Leavenworth's peculiar architecture illustrates the real roots of mass incarceration--as an explicitly race- and nation-building system that has been ingrained in the very fabric of US history rather than as part of a recent post-war racial history. The book sheds light on the truth of the painful relationship between the carceral state and democracy in the US--a relationship that thrives to this day.

Author: Sara M. Benson
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 04/16/2019
Pages: 204
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.50d
ISBN13: 9780520296961
ISBN10: 0520296966
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Criminology
- Social Science | Penology
- Political Science | Political Ideologies | Democracy

About the Author
Sara M. Benson is a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at San Jose State University and teaches at Oakes College at the University of California, Santa Cruz.