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A Field Guide to the Plantation to Prison Pipeline


This field guide is intended to help readers understand the past and present relationships between environmental and socioeconomic issues in the Mississippi Delta region—namely, the carceral system, the natural and built environments, and capitalism and labor. In doing so, readers may better grasp the urgent need for transformative solutions in the Delta and beyond.

Today’s challenges relating to incarceration and climate change are rooted in the history of the Delta and in the modern iterations of racist worldviews that manifest themselves in systems of power. The systems of power that maintain racialized capitalism in the Delta are complex, intertwined, and entrenched. Iterative changes allow actors to adapt and maintain their exploitative power. Thus a bold reimagining is necessary for meaningful change.

We illustate the plantation-to-prison pipeline at three carceral sites in the Delta:
The image above displays the transition from plantaitons to fossil fuel and carceral infrastructure along the river from Natchez to New Orleans. Below is timeline of the pipeline’s creation in the Delta.

View the complete Field Guide to the Delta here, or explore it via the links below.
Running on Cargo