Prison-Industrial Complex: A modern partnership between the State and Capital. Prisons punish rather than heal. The Prison-Industrial Complex imprisons the most rebellious and oppressed communities in our country, and then holds them in for-profit prisons, both public and private, that taxpayers are forced to financially support. The prisoners are then forced to labor (for free or literally pennies an hour) to create commodities for sale by the capitalists. See also, “Prison Blues” Jeans.