Prison supply companies have continuously expanded their production in response to a growing incarcerated population.
Mass incarceration is as much an environmental problem as it is a social one, according to a new Portland State University study that finds increases in incarceration are significantly associated with increases in industrial emissions.
Julius McGee, the study's lead author and an environmental sociologist, argues that the construction and maintenance of prisons, the production of goods and materials used inside prisons and the use of prison labor to manufacture industrial equipment for the government and private companies all contribute to increased emissions.
"As we shift the population into prisons, we see a clear impact on how economic development contributes to emissions," said McGee, an assistant professor of urban studies and Black Studies at PSU.
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