Charles Manson lives here. These are the twin faces of American incarceration. Chain-gangs break rocks in Texas, swinging their hammers to the rhythm of songs first chanted by slaves. Prisoners in futuristic isolation cells hear only the buzz of fluorescent light, the hum of computerised ventilation. At the current growth rate, by the year 2050 half of the US population will be incarcerated.
Prison is no longer just a crime and punishment business, it is a money business.
Joe Hallinan is haunted by prison sounds. Hallinan, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, never wanted to go inside - until he met Jack Kyle. A tough Texas warden, Kyle always believed in locking people up, still does. But, he confided in Hallinan, things are getting out of hand. Intrigued, Hallinan spent four years visiting prisons across the country, from California to the rural south.