Carceral Apartheid – Brittany Friedman

Sociologist Brittany Friedman’s book Carceral Apartheid (2025) examines the structural mechanisms of the US prison system, arguing that it is deeply shaped by institutional racism. Friedman describes prisons not only as places of incarceration but as part of a broader system of social control. By “carceral apartheid,” she means a form of institutionalized segregation and unequal treatment through which racial power relations are reproduced within the criminal justice system.

Using historical documents, interviews with former prisoners, and analyses of prison policy—particularly in California—Friedman demonstrates how state institutions, starting in the second half of the 20th century, developed strategies to more intensely monitor and control certain groups, especially Black political activists. According to Friedman, these practices are in historical continuity with earlier forms of racial control in the US.

The book also argues that prison administrations sometimes deliberately instrumentalized conflicts between prisoner groups to weaken political organizations within prisons. According to Friedman's analysis, this creates a system in which racist logics and power structures are embedded within the institutions themselves. Carceral Apartheid thus contributes to the academic debate on mass incarceration and shows how the prison system not only reflects but can actively reinforce social inequalities.