BOOK TALK

The Prison Industry: How It Works and Who Profits 

Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Columbia Business School
David Geffen Hall, Cooperman Commons
645 West 130th St. New York, NY 10027

6:30–8:30 PM ET*
*Reception to follow included with RSVP

Unable to attend in-person? Register Here to receive the event recording.

Join us to celebrate the release of The Prison Industry: How It Works and Who Profits, the highly anticipated book by Bianca Tylek and Worth Rises, a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to dismantling the prison industry and ending the exploitation of those it touches. Based on years of research by Worth Rises, The Prison Industry maps the range of ways in which private corporations, often with their government partners, profit off of incarceration. Jelani Cobb, Dean of Columbia Journalism School and staff writer at The New Yorker, will host a conversation with Worth Rises Executive Director, Bianca Tylek, and U.S. Prisons Program Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Johnny Perez. Their conversation will offer a deep dive into the complex dynamics of the prison industry, the false ethics of carceral capitalism, and their far-reaching consequences on communities.

Attendees will receive a free copy of The Prison Industry, and all guests are invited for continued conversation in a reception to follow the panel event.

Event Speakers

• Jelani Cobb, Dean, Columbia Journalism School and staff writer, The New Yorker (Moderator)
   
• Bianca Tylek, Executive Director, Worth Rises
   
• Johnny Perez, Director, U.S. Prisons Program, National Religious Campaign Against Torture

Please note that you must present a Columbia University ID or a government-issued ID that matches the name used on your registration in order to enter this in-person event.