Working Undercover as a Prison Guard

Reporters rarely get access to the insides of private prisons, which hold 131,000 of the nation’s 1.6 million prisoners and are not subject to public disclosure. Journalist Shane Bauer worked undercover as a guard for four months at the Winn Correctional Center, a private prison in rural Louisiana, and found appalling conditions, rampant mismanagement and corporate malfeasance during his time there. The product of that investigation, “My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard,” makes up the entirety of Mother Jones’ August/July issue.