Hinnershitz, Stephanie

OUR SYNOPSIS: Stephanie Hinnershitz tells the stories of Japanese Americans incarcerated for being Japanese Americans during World War II. She centers labor, asserting “that the extraction of labor was a crucial component of the policy, planning, and implementation of the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans.” (2) Utilizing oral histories, military records, memoirs, and government documents, she argues that “the incarceration of Japanese Americans created a massive system of prison labor that blurred the lines between free and forced work.” (3) The low quality of housing and poor living conditions in the camps further established this prison environment. Extractive labor potential was a prime consideration in selecting locations for and designing the camps. She shows that labor was fully prioritized over military agendas in laying out these facilities. As wartime agricultural needs rose, Japanese American carceral labor was expanded to include agricultural contract labor on private farms. After much debate about how to do this the state relied on the concept of constructive custody, rendering incarcerated Japanese Americans similar to parolees who leave prison but remain effectively imprisoned. A long list of requirements for private employers using incarcerated workers ensured the government maintained strict control. Hinnershitz also emphasizes the resistance of Japanese Americans to their incarceration, arguing that “Living and working conditions in the prison camps were inseparable; when Japanese Americans cried out against the abnormal carceral space they inhabited, they protested both. Resistance was difficult but not impossible,” notably including strikes. (103)