Contemporary Narratives of Mass Incarceration

The rise in rates of imprisonment since the late 1970s is one of the most striking features of social policy. The USA and England and Wales have been the “leaders” in these developments. The rate of imprisonment doubled in the UK in the twenty years to 2015. This chapter will begin with a discussion of the historicity of mass incarceration and the penal state. It will examine the expansion of the use of imprisonment in England and Wales over the past thirty years. In contrast to the previous theoretically orientated chapters, this will focus on data such as the rates of imprisonment and the development of policy within this field. The chapter will also provide a comparative analysis that will place the development of the penal state in England and Wales within an international context.