(Doing) Time Is Money: Confinement, Prison Work and the Reproduction of Carceral Capitalism

Jenna Pandeli and Richard Longman
Additional contact information
Jenna Pandeli: UWE Bristol, UK
Richard Longman: The Open University, UK

Work, Employment & Society, 2025, vol. 39, issue 3, 727-747

Abstract: This article examines how prison work functions as a site where neoliberal and carceral capitalist logics are reproduced across individual, organisational and societal levels. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in a private UK prison, we argue that confinement exacerbates prisoners’ obsession with money and predatory entrepreneurialism, reflecting and reinforcing the broader dynamics of carceral capitalism at each level. By analysing these interconnected dynamics, we demonstrate how incarceration perpetuates these logics. Furthermore, we illustrate how prison work perpetuates neoliberal exploitation, surveillance and control, hindering rehabilitation and societal reintegration. Our analysis underscores the need for a comprehensive reassessment of the Prison Industrial Complex. We conclude that rather than viewing prisoners as a captive audience for reproducing carceral capitalism, prisons should be reimagined to prioritise the humanity of those impacted by the criminal justice system and to create alternative models of accountability and social transformation.

Keywords: carceral capitalism; confinement; ethnography; money; prison work (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09500170241292947 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:39:y:2025:i:3:p:727-747

DOI: 10.1177/09500170241292947

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Work, Employment & Society from British Sociological Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().