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Josh Page

@joshpage.bsky.social

430 followers 200 following 170 posts

Sociology prof. at Univ. of Minnesota. Law, Criminal Punishment, Politics, and Labor. New book: Legal Plunder: The Predatory Dimensions of Criminal Justice.

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Josh Page @joshpage.bsky.social · Jul 8

Legal Plunder: The Predatory Dimensions of Criminal Justice, my book w/ @joesoss.bsky.social, is now available. 30% off through @uchicagopress.bsky.social (see below). Look out for info about book-related events beginning in late-August.

Joe Soss @joesoss.bsky.social · Jul 8

It's hard to believe, but today is the day -- the release date for Legal Plunder: The Predatory Dimensions of Criminal Justice, a book that @joshpage.bsky.social and I have been working on for most of the past decade. If you’d like to check it out, you can get 30% off by entering the code UCPNEW.

Legal Plunder

A searing, historically rich account of how US policing and punishment have been retrofitted over the last four decades to extract public and private revenues from America’s poorest and most vulnerabl...

press.uchicago.edu

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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 7h

something i learned this week! mailchi.mp/boltsmag/new...

Jane Goodall’s influence behind bars: The legendary primatologist Jane Goodall, who died last week at 91, helped inspire incarcerated people to learn more about wildlife and the environment by opening Roots & Shoots chapters inside jails in the U.S. and Italy, with some participants going on to launch careers in conservation post-incarceration. In 2015, Bolts' Alex Burness spent a day with her at the county jail in Boulder, Colorado, where she spoke to folks held there about all that people can learn from animals.

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Josh Page @joshpage.bsky.social · 8h

Amazing!

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 7d

I've been writing about the war on drugs for more than 20 years. There are some cases that have stuck with me -- names that have never left my head. For the last couple years, I've been working with The Intercept on a podcast to tell their stories. It launches in a week.

Introducing Collateral Damage | Collateral Damage from The Intercept

The Intercept is launching a new podcast series reported and hosted by investigative journalist Radley Balko.

shows.acast.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 9d

Excited to read this! Thanks @joesoss.bsky.social & @joshuapage.bsky.social

Cover of legal plunder: the predatory dimensions of criminal justice

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Josh Page @joshpage.bsky.social · 9d

Thanks, Don!

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JazzReads📚 @jazzreads.bsky.social · 10d

So exhausting..

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The Marshall Project @themarshallproject.org · 11d

In prisons across the U.S., basics such as deodorant, shampoo, sneakers, thermal clothes for winter are often only available to people who can afford them.

But earning enough in jobs behind bars is nearly impossible.

Prison Money Diaries: What People Really Make (and Spend) Behind Bars

We asked people in prison to track their earning and spending — and bartering and side hustles — for 30 days. Their accounts reveal a thriving underground economy behind bars.

www.themarshallproject.org

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 13d

If they had a right-wing, “tough-on-crime” coded mayor there would be endless national profiles about him and how he finally brought sanity back to Chicago.

Jeremy Glover @jgrantglover.bsky.social · 13d

Now that summer is over, Chicago is still on track to have fewer homicides in 2025 than almost any other year since 2001. This is especially impressive considering that the five most violent years of the 21st century have all been in the past decade.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 13d

This is what is happening when the cameras are running

Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · 13d

I was back at 26 Federal Plaza today, where an ICE agent violently threw this bereft woman to the ground in front of her kids. She had not touched him. She did not pose any threat. She had to be taken to the hospital. (🎥: Elias Eliahu)

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Josh Page @joshpage.bsky.social · 14d

Congrats! I'm looking forward to reading the essays.

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Cortney Lollar @clollar.bsky.social · 16d

Thanks to Walter Pavlo & @forbes.com for highlighting my new report with @nacdl.org on the failures of criminal restitution. Rather than satisfactorily compensating crime victims, it enmeshes people owing restitution debt in the criminal legal system long past…1/2

www.forbes.com/sites/walter...

Study Finds Federal Restitution Benefits Few, Including Victims

Restitution was meant to restore victims of their losses and punish those responsible ... a new paper shows that neither goal is being met and changes are necessary.

www.forbes.com

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Josh Page @joshpage.bsky.social · 18d

It is, and pairs well with Legal Plunder ;)

Josh Page @joshpage.bsky.social · 18d

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

The Black Tax

Revealing a history that is deep, broad, and infuriating, The Black Tax casts a bold light on the racist practices long hidden in the shadows of America’s tax regimes. American taxation is unfair, a...

press.uchicago.edu

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Isaac G. Bryan @ib2real.bsky.social · 20d

The California Sheriffs Association does not believe the incarcerated firefighters who helped save Los Angeles should be paid for their life saving labor.

Despite our bill receiving bipartisan unanimous support in the legislature

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Prison Policy Initiative @prisonpolicy.org · 21d

"The state is just capitalizing on people who can’t really do anything about it."

Time and time again, prisons & telecom companies have shown that they can get away with exploiting incarcerated people and their loved ones.

oklahomawatch.org/2025/09/12/w...

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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 21d

Today, Andrew Bilodeau argues that traditional labor unions can and should bring incarcerated workers into the fold by including them in their organizing drives at fast food restaurants, factories, and other workplaces.

Toward Labor Unions for Incarcerated Workers: An Organizing Strategy

Incarcerated workers are deeply embedded in the U.S. economy, yet they are excluded from basic labor protections and organizing rights. Traditional labor unions can and should bring these workers into...

lpeproject.org

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Prison Policy Initiative @prisonpolicy.org · 24d

Thousands of people detained by ICE are actually held in local, publicly operated jails

These facilities–run by elected sheriffs–are making money off of the incarceration of people who are mostly accused of no more serious offense than crossing the border without permission

U.S. map showing that in 25 states and D.C., federal agencies like ICE and the U.S. Marshals only detain people using local jails. In other states, jails play a part in the detention network alongside federal or private facilities. In Arizona, Delaware, and Hawaii no local jails provide substantial detention space to these agencies.

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Attorney General Keith Ellison @ag.state.mn.us · 25d

Huge congrats to the workers of @teamsters.bsky.social Local 320 on their big win. Proof again that workers win when they stand together.

Thanks too to @farmaid.org, Willie Nelson, farmers & community for supporting labor and holding firm. Proof again that standing in solidarity with workers works.

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Michael Derby @michaelsderby.bsky.social · 26d

Please pay for your news and understand why paywalls exist, and also, maybe question why some news sources and comment operations are able to be free.

nilay patel @reckless.bsky.social · 26d

Just to be blunt, if you want Wired and 404 and The Verge to employ reporters who understand the memes on bullet casings and can connect them to gaming culture while having the legal and support resources to deal with waves of harassment when we do it… you have to subscribe and pay for the work

onion person @junlper.beer · 26d

the entire media ecosystem is just not built or ready for events like this and far right billionaires like larry ellison buying news orgs will only make this worse

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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 27d

Enormous feature via @laurengill.bsky.social. Sharing to read later!

Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 27d

NEW: Arkansas announced plans for a mega prison in a rural town. Since then, locals are organizing to stop it.

At first they opposed it in their own town. But some now say they've taken a more critical look at how we incarcerate in the country.

make time for this new feature, you won't regret it

The Prison Next Door - Bolts

How Arkansas’ secretive plan for a new state lockup angered residents in a deep red corner of rural America—and changed how some see incarceration.

boltsmag.org

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Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg 🇵🇸 @elizabethweill.bsky.social · Sep 2

DHS announced that it will financially reward local law enforcement agencies that carry out its anti-immigrant agenda, effectively creating an incentive system in which the more people wanted by ICE that an agency abducts, the more money it stands to make. truthout.org/articles/tru...

Trump Admin to Financially Reward Police Agencies For Working with ICE

DHS announced a new program that pays law enforcement agencies that help carry out its anti-immigrant agenda.

truthout.org

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Josh Page @joshpage.bsky.social · Sep 7

Haha!

Josh Page @joshpage.bsky.social · Sep 7

Are you wearing sandals?

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Josh Page @joshpage.bsky.social · Sep 4

👇 Indeed. Prison labor is FORCED labor. #LegalPlunder

Bolts @boltsmag.org · Sep 4

Assigned to a prison job paying $0.13 per hour, Abron Arrington refused to work, figuring his time could be better spent learning physics.

The Colorado DOC punished him with bouts of solitary confinement.

Forced Labor Continues in Colorado, Years After Vote to End Prison Slavery

Coloradans voted in 2018 to amend their state constitution to ban forced labor in prison. Years later, incarcerated people are still being punished for refusing work assignments.

boltsmag.org

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Josh Page @joshpage.bsky.social · Sep 3

Congratulations!

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