Brittany Friedman

Brittany Michelle Friedman is an American sociologist and author. Her research spans the sociology of law, sociology of race, political sociology, economic sociology, and criminal justice.

Friedman is known for introducing and developing the concept of "carceral apartheid," which introduces the notion of "racist intent" to center the state's role in arming white supremacist civilians as a means of racialized social control. Friedman theorizes how carceral apartheid operates as political warfare and deploys official levels of control through the criminal justice system and mass incarceration, extralegal levels of control through white supremacist alliances with law enforcement and other means, and through clandestine levels of control that seek to distort narratives, hide the truth, and wield criminal labels against oppressed populations in order to destroy them.

She has done extensive research on social control and cover-ups, the Black Guerilla Family, the black power movement behind bars, and the financialization of the criminal legal system as seen with pay to stay. She is a frequent commentator on public media outlets on topics related to institutional misconduct, cover-ups, prison reform, and racism. Her most notable work is the book Carceral Apartheid: How Lies and White Supremacists Run Our Prisons.