Up the river (from home): where does the prisoner count?

This study presents a geographic analysis of imprisonment in the United States following the geographically and historically unprecedented expansion of the nations prison systems (1973-present). This expansion is commonly known as mass imprisonment. The social and spatial effects of mass imprisonment extend well beyond prison walls, in often unexpected or understudied ways. This work is designed to investigate these effects in three ways. First, an economic geography of prison privatization explores the relationships between capital and the state through which mass imprisonment took shape. Second, an urban geography of Georgias Department of Corrections explores the dynamic population geography through which mass imprisonment is produced and sustained. Third, a political geography of the ways prisoners are numbered, counted, and accounted for explores the controversial practice of counting the prison population during the decennial census. This multi-method research draws primarily from a statistical analysis of a unique geodatabase of Georgia prison admissions and interviews with former prisoners. The study is situated at the intersection of imprisonment, urbanization, and political representation.