Public awareness has deepened over recent years surrounding not just the harms of the carceral system, but also how money flows through it and shapes the lives of those it touches. Flashpoint moments highlighted the commercial aspects of incarceration: The death of Kalief Browder in 2015 illuminated the realities of the money bail system, a series of exposés throughout the mid-aughts revealed the use of prison labor by major brands like Victoria’s Secret and Whole Foods, and the 2020 murder of George Floyd mainstreamed activist demands to defund local police departments with exorbitant budgets. 

Now, Bianca Tylek, the executive director of the nonprofit Worth Rises, is aiming to blow the lid off the prison industrial complex with her new book “The Prison Industry: How It Works and Who Profits.” Written alongside Tylek’s colleagues at Worth Rises, a nonprofit advocacy organization that provides public education aimed at dismantling the prison industry, the book dives into the expansive web of private corporations profiting from the carceral system, many of which have operated under relative obscurity until now. “The Prison Industry” organizes these private corporations into 12 sectors: telecom, health care, management and operations, community corrections, food and commissary, programs and labor, financial services, architecture and construction, equipment, investors, personnel, and transportation. 

Each section dives into the history of corporate involvement in that sector of the prison system, highlights the major players in that sector, and offers moving first-person accounts from formerly incarcerated people and their loved ones whose lives were impacted by this commercial exploitation. In this way, the text moves beyond facts and figures and helps readers understand, for example, not just how much architectural firms earn to design prison and jail facilities, but also the direct impact of that design on those who are detained in solitary confinement. 

Prism spoke to Tylek to learn more about “The Prison Industry,” her hopes for what it will achieve, and how readers can take action with the information they learn. 

This conversation has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.

Tamar Sarai: Why was it important to shed light on the 12 sectors outlined in this book, and what is the significance of bringing this information to the broader public?

Bianca Tylek: For too long, conversations about profiteering within the criminal legal system have centered predominantly on private prisons and prison labor, ignoring the sprawling, insidious network of financial incentives and private corporations that shape incarceration and detention in the U.S. We knew we had to expose the full scale of the prison industry—all of its sectors from telecom to health care to food and commissary—because limiting the conversation minimizes the problem and limits the scope of solutions. By making this information readily accessible in a short volume, people can now understand how deeply entrenched and normalized corporate greed and gross exploitation have become in our system and be better armed to fight back.

Sarai: Are there certain sectors where you’ve seen more organizing momentum? Do they require different strategies?

Tylek: Telecom, financial services, health care, food and commissary, and labor have all seen increased organizing momentum in recent years, largely because the harm they cause is so tangible and visceral for families. Each sector requires a different strategy: Some are more vulnerable to public shaming and legislative pressure, while others demand regulatory intervention, investor activism, legal action, or direct organizing with affected communities. What’s essential is a multifaceted approach that matches the unique business models, capital structures, and political connections of each sector and the corporations in them—no one-size-fits-all campaign will dismantle an $80 billion industry.

Sarai: Late last year, Wellpath, one of the largest private prison health care providers, which is discussed in the book, filed for bankruptcy. Some community members who support the dismantling of the prison industry would celebrate this as a victory, but you have described it as more complex. How do we better understand decisions like Wellpath’s bankruptcy and prevent other companies from filling the void?

Tylek: It’s tempting to celebrate a corporation like Wellpath filing for bankruptcy as a win, but the reality is more complex. These reorganizations are often strategic, rather than a mark of defeat; they can be tactics to evade accountability in ways that preserve profit and market share. Wellpath is one of those examples: Executives decided to file for bankruptcy to alleviate the corporation of responsibility for thousands of potential medical malpractice settlements. Its bankruptcy does not mean the corporation goes away at all. But hopefully, the work we did to intervene and raise the stories of impacted families in the bankruptcy proceedings will inspire some change in the corporation’s health care practice. Generally though, we need more structural reforms and public oversight to prevent exploitative corporations from continuing to exist or being replaced by another. To truly dismantle this industry, we must eliminate the financial incentives that make incarceration profitable in the first place, and it must start with a culture shift away from punitive responses to harm. 

Sarai: How can everyday people understand and disentangle their financial ties to the prison industry?

Tylek: Most people don’t realize that their tax dollars, retirement accounts, tuition payments, or even the banks they use are helping to fuel incarceration. The good news is that beyond “The Prison Industry: How It Works and Who Profits,” we have resources like our Prison Industry Corporate Database to help people trace those financial connections. Once informed, people can divest their retirement funds, move their money out of carceral-aligned banks, pressure institutions to drop contracts, and support organizations that center decarceration. Personal accountability can and must fuel collective action—especially around public and institutional money—to ultimately drive systemic change.

Sarai: Are there upcoming Worth Rises campaigns readers can support?

Tylek: Yes, we continue our Connecting Families to make prison communication free across the country, and we’re fighting to preserve the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act that finally forced the regulation of correctional telecom. We’re also working to amend the U.S. Constitution to #EndTheException in the 13th Amendment that still allows slavery to be used as criminal punishment. And we’re responding to critical needs right now around private prisons, electronic monitoring, and the death penalty in light of recent shifts at the federal level. Readers can sign up for our action alerts, join local organizing efforts, donate to support the work, or follow us to stay plugged into the fight. There is no shortage of ways to get involved—what matters most is showing up.

Editorial Team:
Sahar Fatima, Lead Editor
Carolyn Copeland, Top Editor
Rashmee Kumar, Copy Editor