Judah Schept

Judah Schept is Professor in the School of Justice Studies at Eastern Kentucky University. Grounded in the interdisciplinary field of critical prison studies, his work examines the history, political economy, and cultural logics of the carceral state. He is the author of Coal, Cages, Crisis: The Rise of the Prison Economy in Central Appalachia (New York University Press, 2022) and Progressive Punishment: Job Loss, Jail Growth, and the Neoliberal Logic of Carceral Expansion (New York University Press, 2015). He is co-editor of The Jail is Everywhere: Fighting the New Geography of Mass Incarceration (Verso Books, 2024). His writing can also be found in journals such as Radical Criminology; Theoretical Criminology; Punishment and Society; Crime, Media, Culture; the Boston Review; Inquest; n+1; and The New York Times. Judah serves as the book review editor for Social Justice: A Journal of Crime, Conflict, and World Order. He has been active for more than two decades with organizations and campaigns fighting for abolition.