{"product_id":"the-prison-of-democracy-race-leavenworth-and-the-culture-of-law-9780520296961","title":"The Prison of Democracy: Race, Leavenworth, and the Culture of Law","description":"At publication date, a free ebook version of this title will be available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Built in the 1890s at the center of the nation, Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary was designed specifically to be a replica of the US Capitol Building. But why? \u003ci\u003eThe Prison of Democracy\u003c\/i\u003e explains the political significance of a prison built to mimic one of America's monuments to democracy. Locating Leavenworth in memory, history, and law, the prison geographically sits at the borders of Indian Territory (1825-1854) and Bleeding Kansas (1854-1864), both sites of contestation over slavery and freedom. Author Sara M. Benson argues that Leavenworth reshaped the design of punishment in America by gradually normalizing state-inflicted violence against citizens. Leavenworth's peculiar architecture illustrates the real roots of mass incarceration--as an explicitly race- and nation-building system that has been ingrained in the very fabric of US history rather than as part of a recent post-war racial history. The book sheds light on the truth of the painful relationship between the carceral state and democracy in the US--a relationship that thrives to this day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSara M. Benson\u003c\/b\u003e is a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at San Jose State University and teaches at Oakes College at the University of California, Santa Cruz.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of California Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50325028110610,"sku":"9780520296961","price":38.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_a703bf3a-8510-4e09-b80d-86f0fb126524.jpg?v=1727678821","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-prison-of-democracy-race-leavenworth-and-the-culture-of-law-9780520296961","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}