Have you heard of the prison business? No I don’t mean what happened between the prisoners. The prison biz is what corporations do to prisoners.
So? Prison isn’t supposed to be full of perks, right? Prison is supposed to be punishment, so what is the big deal?
The big deal is that once again greedy for-profit corporations have sniffed out a?$70 billion?industry in need of taking. And once they got their fingers onto the prison system, they wanted more and more inventory, aka prisoners.
They stuff body after body into their prison until the place looks like a big jar of whole dill pickles. But instead they are powder kegs waiting for the least little spark to go off.
Why Do States Sell Their Prison System?
If they are like my state, Kansas, they are in a severe money drought. It costs between $24,000 and $30,000 per year to incarcerate one person, and that is a lot of money in these days of shriveling budgets.
Then here come the private prison?corporations to the rescue. Their lofty claims:
?They can house, feed, and monitor inmates more cost effectively than state governments and so there you have it– they win big contracts.?
So What Is The Problem With Contracted, For-Profit Prisons?
First of all, their contracts mandate full occupancy (between 80 and 90 percent). So the more prisoners they can catch to fill up their prisons, the better their deal. And then state government imagines that they need more prisons, because there is a glut of prisoners.
So guess what? Let’s build more prisons and hand out more prison contracts.
The New Prison System
The people in the prisons biz have no interest in rehabilitation or lowering rates. In fact, they are the?lobby for ?tough on crime? to stuff their prisons.
?In the past 10 years, the Corrections Corporation of America (the largest private prison company) spent?$17.4 million?on lobbying government to criminalize more activities and increase sentencing periods.”
“This is one reason why America has more prisoners?per capita?than any other nation in the world and why nearly?1 in 3?young people will be arrested by age 23.?
What Is The Prison Answer?
We can be outraged?that prisoners are inventory ? tell your elected officials, your local press, and people you know ? spread the word. If officials don’t listen,?vote for politicians?who want to reduce the incarceration rate and end the War on Drugs.
?To learn where the likely 2016 presidential candidates stand on private prisons,?click here.?
And don’t invest in publicly traded private prison businesses.
We have to know there is a screaming problem before we can do anything. Now we know.
To watch a short National Geographic video on over-crowded prisons, click here.
