A Yogacara Analysis of the Interconditioned Prison Industrial Complex

This essay is motivated by a broad question: what is a Buddhist approach to the prison industrial complex, an expansive, violent institution that targets vulnerable community members and is sustained by taxpayer funding, private corporations, and the brutal use of force?  The prison industrial complex that encompasses county jails, state and federal prisons, as well as immigrant detention centers, is an extension of previous policing and prison systems. How then should contemporary Buddhist ethicists understand the phenomenon of surveillance, mass incarceration, and deportation? How should Buddhist practitioners respond? This essay aims to theorize and articulate a Buddhist response to the prison industrial complex by employing Yogācāra Buddhist doctrine. By unpacking theories of conditions and conditioning alongside contemporary interpretations of critical race theorists, this essay aims to offer a Buddhist response to the prison industrial complex.