City of Inmates
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)
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!
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 …

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