The behemoth carceral system of the United States has received its fair share of criticism in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests that swept the nation in the summer of 2020. Published less than a year later, Brad Stoddard’s book Spiritual Entrepreneurs: Florida's Faith-Based Prisons and the American Carceral State could not have been released at a better time. As the “Land of the Free” continues to grapple with its prison problem, Stoddard’s insightful ethnographic study allows readers a glimpse at a possible cure touted by evangelicals: faith-based prisons. Spiritual Entrepreneurs focuses on Florida’s experiment with what the state calls “faith- and character-based institutions” (FCBIs) in an attempt to better understand the increased role of religious organizations in government initiatives. Called “the quiet revolution,” this transition in policy began in the 1990s when multiple layers of government shifted taxpayer funds from state-run welfare programs to faith-based organizations (FBOs).
Stoddard states his argument plainly: Florida’s FCBIs and other nationwide faith-based reforms extend the logic of neoliberalism and ultimately uphold and replicate neoliberal policies and epistemologies by favoring a shift toward the private sector and away from state-controlled programs. FCBIs are also effective vectors for neoliberal ideals of citizenship and subjectivity as they instruct prisoners in proper conduct for a market-driven society (5). He also examines the relationship between “tough on crime” political discourse and conservative Christianity (8).
Spiritual Entrepreneurs is divided into eight sections, beginning with an introduction that positions FCBIs in the larger history of “the quiet revolution” and the 1996 Charitable Choice legislation. Stoddard describes his project in the book as a combination of critical ethnography and history, wherein Florida’s FCBI system functions as a case study for the impact of “the quiet revolution” overall. Six chapters follow, each of which analyzes FCBIs from a slightly different angle. Each chapter is subdivided into short sections marked by headings that suggest the content to come. Chapter 1 focuses on the historical context of FCBIs, paying particular attention to the role of neoliberal politics in shaping these institutions, which began in earnest in the 1980s. The chapters that follow are primarily ethnographic and center on the research that Stoddard conducted from around 2013 to 2015. Here, Stoddard makes use of interviews with senior officials, volunteers, prisoners, and chaplains to support his argument that FCBIs create neoliberal subjects.
Chapter 5, titled “The Conservative Center in Faith- and Character-Based Correctional Institutions,” is particularly noteworthy. It begins with the 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., and the ways in which volunteers and prisoners interpreted this news through their own epistemic frameworks. The inmates struggle with how to feel about the shooting; on the one hand, such violence was unacceptable and could not be brushed off easily. On the other hand, prisoners had learned to think of such trials and tribulations as signs that the end times were approaching, which meant that Jesus would soon return. After the group prayed over the matter with volunteers, one man inquired about the electronic chips he believed the government was requiring individuals to get in their forearms. Rather than dismissing this conspiratorial thinking, one of the volunteers doubled down before going off on a tangent about the financial industry, credit cards, and banks. He continued, blaming the shooting on then-president Barack Obama, the government at large, feminists, drugs, gay marriage, and the separation of church and state. Such a diatribe from a volunteer at the Wakulla Correctional Institute (WCI) paints a vivid picture of the religious environment in some FCBIs. The volunteers seemed unconcerned with the fact that their very ability to minister to the inmates in the WCI was a result of governmental policies, both at the state and federal level. Stoddard’s inclusion of these moments—and those that suggest FCBIs could be a force for good—helps readers to reconceptualize FBOs, FCBIs, and the role they play in shaping neoliberal subjects.
Stoddard is the first to admit that it would be impossible to fully account for the history of prisons and prison reform in the United States, but a stronger historical focus might have changed the contours of his argument. While Stoddard does cite Jennifer Graber’s The Furnace of Affliction (University of North Carolina Press, 2014) a number of times in his brief history of prisons, he glosses over one of the most central elements of her argument: that the American impulse toward longer and harder prison sentences and the desire to punish criminals in prison is not entirely new. Stoddard suggests early on that this is a new phenomenon (9) rather than the continuation of a larger pattern of ebbs and flows in prison reform throughout American history. The prisons Graber talks about bear a strong similarity to modern FCBIs, as both conceptualize sin as individual, rather than collective, and regard the purpose of prison to be a “furnace of affliction,” from whence inmates emerge “purified.” While the antebellum prison did not, of course, produce neoliberal subjects and did not refer to their policies as “tough on crime,” reformers viewed prisons in a similar light to the modern conservative volunteers in FCBIs. Further elaboration on what makes FCBIs distinct from their 18th- and 19th-century predecessors would provide useful context for the innovations Stoddard presents.
Overall, Spiritual Entrepreneurs is an excellent book that will likely be a springboard for future scholarship on faith-based prisons. Its combination of history and critical ethnography makes it a truly interdisciplinary text, and many fields can benefit from its analysis and conclusions. The book, with its short sections under clearly delineated subheadings, would fit nicely into an upper-level undergraduate or graduate course on ethnography and religious studies. Notwithstanding some academic jargon that might be confusing to the uninitiated, Spiritual Entrepreneurs remains highly accessible and could appeal to a popular audience. Specialists as well will likely appreciate the book, as it provides valuable insight into the state of prisons and conservative religious expression in our neoliberal world.
Carter Kurtz is a PhD student in religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Carter Kurtz
Date Of Review:
October 11, 2022