REPORT: The 3,100 Companies That Are Invested in Mass Criminalization

By Kenrya Rankin Apr 23, 2018

A new report from the Urban Justice Center’s Corrections Accountability Project identifies more than 3,100 companies that earn revenue via contracts with the prison industrial complex in the United States. The companies span 12 sectors, from construction to healthcare to telecom, and per the report, they all—knowingly or unknowingly—service a system that disproportionately incarcerates Black, Latinx and Native people.

“With this report we seek to convey the enormity of the prison industrial complex and shed light on its diverse corporate participants, taking our understanding of the commercialization of justice beyond just private prison giants, CoreCivic and The GEO Group. There are thousands of publicly-traded, private equity-owned, and privately-held companies that generate profits through the criminal legal system on the backs of those it targets: low-income and minority communities,” Corrections Accountability Project director Bianca Tylek said in an emailed statement. “Until today, these companies have operated largely behind closed doors, often intentionally masking their involvement. Yet given the reach of the criminal legal system today, still others, have found themselves unintentionally wrapped up in the prison industrial complex. Nevertheless, both present an engagement opportunity for advocates fighting to shut down the industry and shift the economy that have been built around mass incarceration.”

Read the full report, "The Prison Industrial Complex: Mapping Private Sector Players," here; download the full data set here.