"In The Perpetual Prisoner Machine, author Joel Dyer takes a critical look at the United States' criminal justice system as we enter the new millennium. America has more than tripled its prison population since 1980 even though crime rates have been either flat or declining. If crime rates aren't going up, why is the prison population? The Perpetual Prisoner Machine provides the answer to this question, and shockingly, it has little to do with crime or justice. The answer is "profit"."--BOOK JACKET.

"The Perpetual Prisoner Machine explains how the new prison-industrial complex has capitalized upon the public's fear of crime - which has its origins in violent media content - to help bring about the "hard on crime" policies that have led to our prison-filling, and therefore profitable "war on crime.""--BOOK JACKET. "Dyer concludes that powerful, market driven forces have manipulated America into fighting a very real war against an imaginary foe."--BOOK JACKET.