Banished (Hardcover, New edition)

Banished is a farcical black comedy based upon further erosion of civil rights in the future. It takes place during a recession in a newly formed country called "the Lands" after the fall of the United States.

Governments and powerful civic leaders try to solve financial insolvency by collecting past due fines from dubiously convicted drunk drivers in a draconian manner, establishing a work camp in an inhospitable part of another Land for those who do not pay.

The camp is an almost perfect place to hide prisoners and staff who have information or skills that might be damaging to the elite. The ex-offender chief of staff at the camp is appointed to hide him because he has damaging information in a massive civil case against the Parish of St. James. His brutality causes the death of a prisoner. The efforts to cover up the tragedy lead to overreaction, and further fatal mistakes.

In the end, the abused prisoners are granted their freedom if they accept banishment, allowing the politicians and powerful of St. James to wash their hands of the debacle.