'Revolutionises our understanding of the carceral state' - Fidelis Chebe, Director of Migrant Action

During 2019-20 in England and Wales, over 17 million hours of labor were carried out by more than 12,500 people incarcerated in prisons, while many people in immigration detention centers were also put to work. These people constitute a sub-waged, captive workforce who are frequently discarded by the state when done with.

Work and the Carceral State examines these forms of work as part of a broader exploration of the relationship between criminalization, criminal justice, immigration policy and labor, tracing their lineage through the histories of transportation and banishment, of houses of correction and prisons, to the contemporary production of work.

Criminalization has been used to enforce work and to discipline labor throughout the history of England and Wales. This book demands that we recognise the carceral state as operating at the frontier of labor control in the 21st century.

'This book is an illuminating interrogation into captive labour, disposable workforce and state harm. Grasping the intricacies of labour, immigration, capital and criminalisation, this thought-provoking work will revolutionise our understanding of the carceral state'
Fidelis Chebe, Director, Migrant Action

'A magnificent piece of scholarship. It is eloquently written, meticulously researched and filled with profound insights: an instant classic'
Dr David Scott, The Open University and author of 'For Abolition'

'A brilliant study of carceral labour as a form of neoliberal statecraft with deep historical roots that haunt it today'
Avery F. Gordon Visiting Professor Birkbeck School of Law and author of 'The Hawthorn Archive: Letters from the Utopian Margins'