John Oliver Takes On The Prison Industrial Complex

Miles Kampf-Lassin

In this clip from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the host skewers the United States prison system, highlighting the incredible incarceration rates, racial disproportion of inmates, the failed War on Drugs and the private prison industry—and does so with comedy and puppets.

Miles Kampf-Lassin is Senior Editor at In These Times. Follow him at @MilesKLassin

The text is from the poem “QUADRENNIAL” by Golden, reprinted with permission. It was first published in the Poetry Project. Inside front cover photo by Golden.
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