The Big House in a Small Town: Prisons, Communities, and Economics in Rural America

The prison boom of the 1980's and 1990's, combined with the recent economic decline, has led to an interesting phenomenon: where towns once fought against becoming the home of a prison, they now fight to land one—even maximum security prisons. Some towns have put together lobbying packages—such as land, utility upgrades, and even cash—to convince corrections departments to build prisons on their land.

A recent study by the Urban Institute estimates that one-third of all counties in the United States house a prison, and that our prison and jail population is now over 2.1 million. Another report indicates that more than 97 percent of all U.S. prisoners are eventually released, and communities are absorbing nearly 650,000 formerly incarcerated individuals each year. These figures are particularly alarming considering the fact that rural communities are using prisons as economic development vehicles without fully understanding the effects of these jails on the area.

This book is the result of author Eric J. Williams's ground-level research about the effects of prisons upon two rural American communities that lobbied to host maximum security prisons. Through hundreds of interviews conducted while living in Florence, Colorado, and Beeville, Texas, Williams offers the perspective of local residents on all sides of the issue, as well as a social history told mainly from the standpoint of those who lobbied for the prisons.

Eric J. Williams is assistant professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies at Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA. His work has been published in the Los Angeles Times and numerous other papers nationwide.