Research Note—The Urban Geography of Prisons: Mapping the City's "Other" Gated Community

Abstract

This research note provides a unique empirical corroboration of the spatial interdependencies—between prisons and cities—suggested by the critical incarceration literature. Specifically, this research note examines the spatial structure of imprisonment in terms of distances and population flows between prisons and cities. It draws on Georgia Department of Corrections prison admission records, 1990-2006, and analyzes these records using gravity model and principal components analysis approaches. The principal findings are that: (1) prisoners are generally held great distances from their homes; and (2) that prison population flows in the Georgia case are spatially structured by the state's urban geography.