PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release: March 27, 2025
Contact: Nico MacDonald, press@worthrises.org, 718-210-8432
National — The U.S. correctional system is a multibillion-dollar industry, turning a profit from incarceration at every turn. Bought out by private prison interests, the Trump administration is set to radically expand its reach and impact. In her groundbreaking new book, The Prison Industry: How It Works and Who Profits (The New Press, April 8, 2025), Bianca Tylek, Executive Director of Worth Rises, pulls back the curtain on the corporations fueling mass incarceration for financial gain with the help of their government partners. Political shifts at the federal level make this release more timely than ever imagined.
“The Prison Industry exposes the deeply entrenched financial interests that treat incarceration as a business rather than a matter of justice,” said Tylek. “If we’re serious about ending mass incarceration, we must confront the money that keeps it alive.”
Tylek, a nationally recognized expert on the prison industry, is available for interviews to discuss the book’s findings, including:
How corporations — from private prisons to telecom providers — extract billions from incarcerated people and their families and their health and wellbeing.
The systemic corruption and exploitation that keep incarceration rates high, even as crime declines.
The role of Wall Street, including private equity, in sustaining the prison industry.
How the Trump administration’s immigration and criminal policies create a boon for the prison industry.
The policy solutions that can dismantle the prison industry and end mass incarceration.
Impacted people, advocates, academics, and even correctional officials have lauded the book. MacArthur “Genius” Fellow Dwayne Betts calls the book “an essential read for anyone committed to dismantling the industry of oppression that sustains American prisons.”
To schedule an interview with Bianca Tylek, please contact Nico MacDonald, press@worthrises.org
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Bianca Tylek is the Founder and Executive Director of Worth Rises and one of the nation’s leading experts on the prison industry. Her novel strategies have wreaked havoc on the prison industry, and her work has been covered on the TED stage as well as by the New York Times, Washington Post, Atlantic, CNN, NPR, Bloomberg, and more.
Worth Rises is a national non-profit organization working to dismantle the prison industry and end the exploitation of incarcerated people and their loved ones. We envision a society in which no entity or individual relies on human caging or control for their wealth, operation, or livelihood.
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
The New Press is a nonprofit, public-interest publisher that amplifies voices for social change. New Press books explore the issues that affect us all and provide ideas and inspiration for the activists, teachers, policymakers, and everyday citizens who are working to defend and promote democracy.