About this site

Carceral History is an independent publication launched in June 2025 by Melanie Newport, a historian at the University of Connecticut and author of This Is My Jail: Local Politics and the Rise of Mass Incarceration.

In an age of decentralized social media, its goal is to provide a platform for sharing book news and fresh research in U.S. carceral history, particularly by professionally-trained historians and people in related fields. I am especially eager to hear from authors and book publicists. I can't promise to share everything but I am hoping to use this platform to show that you can't understand U.S. history without understanding carceral history.

Carceral History is a free resource curated by a mid-career historian as a professional service. You will not see sponsored content or affiliate links around here.

If you subscribe today, you'll get full access to the website as well as email newsletters about new content when it's available. Your subscription makes this site possible, and allows Carceral History to continue to exist. Thank you!

Access all areas

By signing up, you'll get access to the full archive of everything that's been published before and everything that's still to come. Your very own private library.

Fresh content, delivered

Stay up to date with new content sent straight to your inbox! No more worrying about whether you missed something because of a pesky algorithm or news feed.

Meet people like you

Join a community of other subscribers who share the same interests.

Start your own thing

Enjoying the experience? Get started for free and set up your very own subscription business using Ghost, the same platform that powers this website.