Police-Prison Capitalism

A further evolution of police capitalism in which capitalist power expands to include not only policing but also the authority to judge, sentence, and imprison people. Capitalism becomes the judge, prosecutor, jailer, and executioner. This manifests in private prisons that lobby for harsher sentences, corporate-run detention centers that profit from immigrant incarceration, workplace tribunals that banish workers from entire industries, and digital “prisons” like shadow bans or account deactivations that sever livelihoods. Police‑prison capitalism completes the punitive cycle: capital no longer needs the state to enforce its will—it builds its own carceral system.

Police-Prison Capitalism Example: “The company didn’t just fire him; they put him on an industry‑wide blacklist and used a private arbitration firm to block his unemployment claim. Police‑prison capitalism: capital as judge, jury, and executioner.”

Police-Prison Capitalism by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal April 21, 2026