One out of every hundred adults in the U.S. is in prison. This book
provides a crash course in what drives mass incarceration, the human and
community costs, and how to stop the numbers from going even higher.
Collected in this volume are the three comic books published by the Real
Cost of Prisons Project. The stories and statistical information in each
comic book are thoroughly researched and documented.
Prison Town: Paying the Price tells the story of how the financing and
site locations of prisons affects the people of rural communities in
which prison are built. It also tells the story of how mass
incarceration affects people of urban communities where the majority of
incarcerated people come from.
Prisoners of the War on Drugs includes the history of the war on
drugs, mandatory minimums, how racism creates harsher sentences for
people of color, stories of how the war on drugs works against women,
three strikes laws, obstacles to coming home after incarceration, and
how mass incarceration destabilizes neighborhoods.
Prisoners of a Hard Life: Women and Their Children includes stories
about women trapped by mandatory sentencing and the "costs" of
incarceration for women and their families. Also included are
alternatives to the present system, a glossary, and footnotes.
Over 125,000 copies of the comic books have been printed and more than
100,000 have been sent to people who are incarcerated, to their
families, and to organizers and activists throughout the country. The
book includes a chapter with descriptions of how the comix have been put
to use in the work of organizers and activists in prison and in the
"free world" by ESL teachers, high school teachers, college professors,
students, and health care providers throughout the country. The demand
for the comix is constant and the ways in which they are being used are
inspiring.
