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City of Inmates

Published by USC Bedrosian Center on

Historian Kelly Lytle Hernández brings us the lengthy history of how authorities in Los Angeles have used imprisonment as a tool to control both labor and migration.

City of Inmates takes the reader from a brief look at the Tongva Communities in the Tongva Basin, to the Spanish colonial era of the late 18th century, and through the Watts Rebellion in 1965. “This book recounts how the dynamics of conquest met deep reservoirs of rebellion as Los Angeles became the City of Inmates, the nation’s carceral core.” Our discussion delves into this painstaking history of incarceration, resistance, and rebellion in the changing city.

Featuring host Jeffery Jenkins (@jaj7d ?), and guests Robynn Cox (@RobynnCox ?), David Sloane (@dcsloane53 ), and Danielle Williams (@BDanielleW)

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To listen to the Bedrosian Book Club discussion of City of Inmates click the arrow in the player on this post. Or you can download it and subscribe through ApplePodcasts, Soundcloud, Google Play, Stitcher or your favorite podcasting app!

Thanks to the University of North Carolina Press for sharing copies with our readers.

Links & further reading:

The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander (book, podcast)

The Effect of Private Sector Work Opportunities in Prison on Labor Market Outcomes of the Formerly Incarcerated, Robynn Cox in the Journal of Labor Research, Dec 2016.

 

and … be on the lookout for Is the Cemetery Dead? coming in March from University of Chicago Press!

Next Month …

We’re going back in time! Can the Watergate Scandal investigation shed light on the swirl of partisanship and accusations in Washington today? We’ll explore with All the President’s Men by Bernstein & Woodward. This is the story of the “greatest reporting story of all time.” So back to the Nixon era to explore a time when partisan politics and back room dealings were also in the news.
Read along with us! Let us know what you think of the book or the podcasts at Facebook or Twitter.

This podcast was produced by Aubrey Hicks and Jonathan Schwartz, recorded and mixed by The Brothers Hedden, Ryan and Corey Hedden.

Bedrosian Center