AMERICAN CROSSROADS EDITED BY EARL LEWIS, GEORGE LIPSITZ, PEGGY PASCOE, GEORGE SANCHEZ, AND DANA TAKAGI PRISONS, SURPlUS, CRISIS, AND OPPOSITION IN GlOBAUZING CAUFORNIA RUTH WllSON GllMORE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY LOS ANGELES LONDON University of California Press, one of the most distinguished uni­ versity presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and nat­ ural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Founda­ tion and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and insti­ tutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu. University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. FOR MY MOTHER, RUTH ISABEL HERB WILSON London, England AND IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY FATHER, COURTLAND SEYMOUR WILSON ID 2007 by The Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gilmore, Ruth Wilson, 1950-. Golden gulag: prisons, surplus, crisis, and opposition in globalizing California I Ruth Wilson Gilmore. p. cm-(American crossroads; 21). Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-520-22256-4 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN-IO: 0-520-22256-3 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-520-24201-2 (pbk.: alk. paper) ISBN-JO: 0-520-24201-7 (pbk.: alk. paper) r. Prisons-California. 2. Prisons-Economic aspects-California. 3. Imprisonment-California. 4. Criminal justice, Administration of-California. 5. Discrimination in criminal justice administration-California. 6. Minorities-California. 7. California-Economic conditions. I. Title. II. Series. HV 9475.C2G73 2007 365'.9794-dc22 2006on674 Manufactured in the United States of America 15 14 13 12 uro98765 This book is printed on New Leaf EcoBook 60, containing 60% postconsumer waste, processed chlorine free; 30% de-inked recycled fiber, elemental chlorine free; and ro% FSC-certified virgin fiber, to­ tally chlorine free. EcoBook 60 is acid free and meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/ ASTM D 5634-or (Permanence ofPaper).@ CONT(NTS List ofIllustrations I ix List of Tables I xi Acknowledgments I xiii List ofAbbreviations I xx i PROLOGUE: The Bus I 1 r. Introduction I 5 2. The California Political Economy I 30 3. The Prison Fix I 87 4. Crime, Croplands, and Capitalism I 128 5. Mothers Reclaiming Our Children I 181 6. What Is to Be Done? I 241 EPILOGUE: Another Bus I 249 Notes I 253 Bibliography and References I 281 Index I 355 ' lllUSTRATIONS FIGURES r. California crime index, 1952-1995 I 8 2. Revised California crime index, 1952-2000 I 9 3. Defense prime contracts and manufacturing jobs, 1972-1992 I 44 4. Population growth by region, 1980-1990 I 47 5. Growth in the ratio of property/proprietors' (profit) income to total income, 1977-1996 I 5 9 6. Rise in interest income as a percentage of property/propri­ etors' income and decline in the prime rate, 1980-1989 I 61 7. California farmland and irrigated land, in millions of acres, 1945-1987/66 8. Votes cast for governor and general fund expenditures, 1978-1994 I 85 MAP California state adult prisons I 10 ix TABlfS r. Employees in Principal California Manufacturing Indus­ tries, 1980-1995 I 51 2. California Population, Labor Force, Jobs, Unemployment, and Prisoners, 1973-2000 I 73 3. Three Waves of Structural Change in Sources of California Tax Revenues, 1967-1989 I 82 4. CDC Prisoner Population by Race/Ethnicity I 111 5. CDC Commitments by Controlling Offense I 112 6. Mechanization of Cotton Production, 1940-1980 I 141 7. Overview of Kings County Agriculture, 1982-1992I144 8. Annual Change in Corcoran Housing Stock and Vacancy Rate, Selected Years I 1 5 g xi ACKNOWlf DGMf NTS Golden Gulag is a late first book-late in my life, late to the press, and so late in the twentieth century that it appears well into the twenty-first. In some ways, the contents are old news, but alas not old enough to have become mere bad memories or the stuff of history to learn from. Over the years, as I've wrestled with the questions and evidence that shape the book, I've had so much help from so many people that this section of the volume should, by rights, be longer than any chapter and contain far more entries than the bibliography. However, well into my second half­ century on this troubled planet, I'm as forgetful as I am in­ debted-and hopeful that if you don't find your name here, you'll forgive the oversight. And may all, named or not, excuse the errors. Poor Neil Smith. As Geography Department chair at Rutgers, he generously accepted a cranky middle-aged activist packing a couple of drama degrees and a headful of social theory to be his Ph.D. student and got plenty of drama in return. He also made me think systematically about society and space, accepted my for- XI II xiv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv mulation for what happened, why, and to what end-and then ers ROC and Corcoran, asked plenty of great questions, read the made me prove it to him, revision after revision, in my d.isserta­ manuscript thoroughly, and also showed me the practical con­ tion. We fought a lot. We also celebrated often, and I'm grateful nections between analytical, political, and pedagogical creativity. to Neil and to Cindi Katz for embracing both Gilmores the mo­ Years ago, when neither of us had a proper job, we shook our ment we arrived at New Brunswick, for wining and dining and graying heads in dismay at a future of endless adjuncting. Now throwing parties for us for four years, and making me a scholar­ we both have steady jobs; who knew? activist. George Lipsitz, Dave Roediger, Robin D. G. Kelley, Don At Rutgers, Professors Leela Fernandes, Dorothy Sue Cobble, Mitchell, Beth Richie, Ed Soja, Audrey Kobayashi, Andrea Bob Lake, Ann Markusen, Susan Fainstein, John Gillis, and Smith, Lauren Berlant, Lakshman Yapa, Cindi Katz, Greg Caridad Souza taught me to work across disciplines; Leela, in Hooks, Amy Kaplan, George Sanchez, Chris Newfield, Fred particular, models the analytical courage interdisciplinarity de­ Moten, Devra Weber, Barbara Christian, Bruce Franklin, An­ mands. I hope Susan will accept this book in lieu of the paper I gela Y. Davis, Wendy Brown, Cathy Cohen, Judith Butler, Wah­ owe her. neema Lubiano, Steve Martinot, Joy Jam es, Linda Evans, Cheryl When I headed off to Rutgers, my Los Angeles compafieras­ Harris, Joan Dayan, Mike Merrill, Paul Gilroy, Vron Ware, es peciall y Theresa Allison, Geri Silva, Pauline Milner, and Peter Linebaugh, Bobby Wilson, Cedric Robinson, Elizabeth Donna Warren-in Mothers Reclaiming Our Children wished Robinson, Agnes Moreland Jackson, Sue E. Houchins, Deborah me well, and they always welcomed me back to the fold-ex­ Santana (who set me straight on my working title "Sunshine pecting me always to bring useful knowledge and help make Gulag" and suggested "Golden," lest anyone think the book was their knowledge useful. about Florida), and, more than anyone, A. Sivanandan and Stu­ A coalition sparked by Mothers ROC and Families to Amend art Hall indelibly influenced how I think: each fiercely demon­ California's Three Strikes (FACTS) expanded statewide thanks strates how learning well is a generous art. to the relentless energy of Geri Silva, Gail Blackwell, Barbara During graduate school, we students-Laura Liu, Rachel Brooks, Sue Rheams, Claudia Marriott, Julia Gonzales, Mary Herzing, John Antranig Kasbarian, Curtis Frietag, Melina Pat­ Avanti, Doug Kieso, Dennis Duncan, Carmen Ewell, and terson, Lisa Lynch, Alex Weheliye (who made me think about Christy Johnson, among many other tireless people. land!), Yong-Sook Lee, Marlen Llanes, Nicole Cousino, and My capacity to think theoretically, but speak practically, I owe Ralph Saunders-formed communities of purpose that still bind to the stern sisterly tutelage of my Wages for Housework men­ us in our commitment to live the change. tors, Margaret Prescod and Selma James. I'd never have spent a minute, much less six years, at Berke­ Without Mike Davis there would be no Golden Gulag. He ley were it not for the interventions, encouragement, friendship, shared ideas, research, and resources, pointed me toward Moth- and mentoring of Dick Walker, Gill Hart, and Carol Stack. I also xvi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xvii had the fortune to share work-in-progress with amazing col­ work on California prisons is a starting point for any serious stu­ leagues-Jean Lave, Pedro Noguera, Dan Perlstein, Barrie dent of the subject, as is the investigative reporting by Mark Arax Thorne, Harley Shaiken, Allan Pred, Evelyn Nakano Glenn, and Mark Gladstone. Public servants Don Pauley of Corcoran, Elaine Kim, Michael Omi, Pat Hilden, Jose David Saldivar, Jeff Melissa Harriman of Avenal, Ed Tewes of Modesto, and Bernie Romm, John Hurst, Caren Kaplan, and my dearest Cal pal Kurt Orozco of the now defunct Joint Legislative Committee on Cuffey. Delores Dillard, Jahleezah Eskew, Nat Vonnegut, Carol Prison Construction and Operation provided crucial guidance Page, and Dan Plumlee made life easy for the bureaucratically without hesitation. Paula Burbach at the California Department challenged and, along with Don Bain and Darin Jensen, prove of Corrections cheerfully responded to inquiries. that staff are the backbone and conscience of academia. Some of the research for this book received support from a The students of Carceral Geographies at Berkeley dutifully Center for the Critical Analysis of Contemporary Culture grad­ studied the manuscript and, integrating their readings with am­ uate fellowship; a Ford dissertation fellowship; a University of bitious fieldwork, concluded every fall semester with group re­ California at Berkeley chancellor's postdoctoral fellowship; and search projects full of excellent evidence and surprising insights.