Angela Davis Popularizes 'Prison Industrial Complex' Concept

Scholar and activist Angela Davis popularized the term 'prison industrial complex' in a 1997 article in ColorLines magazine, describing the interlocking interests of private prison companies, rural economies dependent on prison employment, and the political economy driving mass incarceration. By 1997, Corrections Corporation of America managed over 50 facilities. The concept shaped abolitionist organizing and critical race scholarship for the following decades.