Over 1.7 million Americans are in prison, a 300-percent increase since 1980. In several U.S. cities, one-third of all young black men are in jail, on probation, or awaiting trial. In California, spending on prisons has eclipsed allocations for higher education. Starbucks, Jansport, and Microsoft all use prison labor to package their products. Corrections Corporations of America, the Nation's largest private jailer, has been dubbed a "theme stock" for the 1990's. The increasing focus on imprisonment has not produced a more effective approach to corrections and criminal justice, however, and crime rates in the United States are significantly higher than in other western countries. The author traces the recent history of the American political economy and the origins of the current criminal justice build-up. He explores several forms of policing, such as zero tolerance, specialized weapons and tactical units, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service war on immigrants. In addition, he examines the politics of life inside prisons (gangs, rape, and brutality) and the role of incarceration in reproducing the U.S. economic and social order.