John Eason
John M. Eason
Equity Scholar
Senior Fellow
Justice Policy Center
Office of Race and Equity Research

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.