As a former prisoner who spent his share of time in solitary confinement, Bauer confesses feeling anxious about returning to the prison environment. What was his motivation for doing time as a correctional officer? Given what he witnessed firsthand, how might American Prison have been different without his personal experience?

How did America’s conservative religious roots inform the way it viewed punishment? How has that mindset persisted today?

How did Southern states take advantage of the exception in the Thirteenth Amendment to restore their postwar economies? How did fear and racism enable the establishment of the modern penitentiary?