Dawayne Brasher working at High Desert State Prison.

What happens when a struggling rural community tries to revive its economy by inviting in prisons? A new P.O.V. documentary tells t he story of four families living in a modern-day prison town and looks at a striking new phenomenon : a prison-building and incarceration boom unprecedented in American history. "Prison Town, USA" airs Tuesday, July 24 at 10/9 p.m. CT on KET2.

The United States has the dubious distinction of having one of the largest prison populations in the world. Yet the jailing of America has been little noted because many of the prisons have opened in remote areas like Susanville , Calif . "Prison Town, USA" examines one of the country's biggest prison towns, a place where a new correctional economy encompasses not only prisoners, guards and their families, but the whole community.

"Prison Town, USA" follows the fortunes of Susanville prison guards Dawayne Brasher and Gabe Jones, local businessman Mike O'Kelly and inmate Lonnie Tyler over the course of two years. The resulting story is one of hard choices and unanticipated consequences. As Susanville's good-hearted country-boys-turned-prison-guards soon learn, life outside the walls develops eerie parallels to life on the inside.

The correctional facilities also introduce new divisions in this once tight-knit community. Tensions arise between those who work for the prisons and those who don't, between locals and prisoners' families , and between prison employees and paroled inmates.

"Prison Town, USA" lays bare the economic and political dynamics behind the prison-building frenzy that is changing the landscape of rural America, shedding light on some of the little-understood human costs of the nation's criminal-justice policies.

P.O.V. "Prison Town, USA" KQED/Calif., the Center for Independent Documentary and Independent Television Service.