prison industrial complex

American  

[priz-uhn in-duhs-tree-uhl kom-pleks] / ˈprɪz ən ɪnˈdʌs tri əl ˌkɒm plɛks /

Or prison-industrial complex

noun

1. the network of government agencies and private industry that foster, benefit from, and contribute to mass incarceration, the imprisonment of large numbers of people.

   The cheapness of prison labor is just one way that the prison industrial complex is used for profit.

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Etymology

Origin of prison industrial complex

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

“We need the same investment that go into law enforcement and the prison industrial complex. We don’t have real investment into this work.”

From Seattle Times

He’s also said he believes in “shrinking the prison industrial complex.”

From Seattle Times

In the chapter “Except as a Punishment for Crime” — named for the exception to emancipation embedded in the 13th Amendment — Pfaelzer lays out the way California virtually invented the prison industrial complex.

From Los Angeles Times

"The Island is Pack" refers to Rikers – at the beginning of what we eventually call the prison industrial complex.

From Salon

They carry the story forward, examining how the prison industrial complex shapes the lives, loves, hopes and dreams of a tightknit circle of friends and family in the Bay Area.

From Los Angeles Times