John M. Eason is an associate professor in the department of sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and author of Big House on the Prairie: Rise of the Rural Ghetto and Prison Proliferation. He is a mixed-methods researcher specializing in ethnography and rare events and research interests in rural and urban communities, punishment, and race. He is founder and director of the UW–Madison Justice Lab and a founding member of the UW pancreas cancer data group with oncologist Noelle LoConte. Before graduate school, Eason was a church-based community organizer focused on housing and criminal justice issues. He also served as a political organizer for previous Illinois state senator Barack Obama. His work on COVID-19 in prisons is funded by the National Science Foundation.