Trump Going Back To For Profit Prisons – No Surprise (VIDEO)

It probably comes as no surprise to you that the American criminal justice system is a mess.

Although the U.S. makes up around 4.4 percent of the world’s population, it houses around 22 percent of the world’s prisoners.

In total, more than 2.3 million people are incarcerated.

Dotted around the country you will find 1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 942 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,283 local jails, and 79 Indian Country jails. And that list doesn’t include all the military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, and prisons that can be found in U.S. territories.

Depressing though such numbers are, there is yet more to come. Fully one-fifth of all those locked up have been convicted of non-violent drug offenses. Black people, representing just 13 percent of the population at large constitute 40% of the prison population.

There are 820,000 people currently out on parole and 3.8 million people on probation.

The whole rotten structure needs to be torn down and re-thought as a matter of national priority and yet administration after administration — from both sides of the political spectrum– have conspired to make things worse, not better.

Still, at least Barrack Obama put an end to the Department of Justice’s private prisons. That was something at least.

Which is why it’s such a shame that President Donald Trump just reversed the decision.

Saving Private Tryin’ (To Make A Buck)

Ever quick to stand up for the little guy, Trump and the ‘used condom filled with leftover turkey bacon’ that is Steve Bannon were quick to kowtow before corporate America. It figures. When Trump says ‘rebuild’ America he does, of course, mean ‘privatize it.’

Still, what’s wrong with private prisons?

Well, lots of things really.

A Mother Jones investigation into a Louisiana prison last year highlighted glaring incompetence, shocking abuses and structural defects that raised serious questions as to what — if indeed there were any — possible benefits could be gained by making the penal system a ‘for-profit’ consideration.

Turns out there was only one. It made corporations a shed load of money.

Take the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) for example.

It began its operations in 1983 with the opening of a single detention center in Houston, Texas. Today it is the second-largest private prison company. Last year it reported $1.9 billion in revenue and netted $221 million in income.

They had to provide some sloppy-ass services to get figures like that.

Indeed, CCA has had to fight over 1200 lawsuits from prisoners over a number of issues ranging from sexual harassment, improper medical care, civil rights abuses as well as over conditions so horrendous that some inmates were forced to eat maggot-infested food.

And that’s not even mentioning the lawsuits relating to deaths and serious physical assaults.

The Final Straw Shank Redemption

It’s not the money. The profit motive in and of itself is not intrinsically evil. It’s the things companies do in the pursuit of it that is the problem. CCA’s net profits, amounting to $3,300 per prisoner are subject to the same market forces as any other commodity.

They are subject to the laws of supply and demand.

And yet in a situation where the commodity is a human being the idea of a ‘supply’ takes on a dark, dystopian hue.

How can one ensure a steady supply of the convicted? How can one keep the turnstiles moving? When you have cut corners as much as you possibly can how can you ensure a steady turnover of profits?

Oh sure, you can try little tricks like 2012’s deliberate understaffing of the Idaho Corrections Center by as much as 26,000 hours. But such tactics are hardly going to keep your profits in the billions, especially when you are forced into a $1 million settlement as a consequence.

So what is a beleaguered corporation to do?

Arrested Redevelopment

Well, they can always ensure that more people get locked up. Buy up members of congress to push through bills that ensure three strike court rulings. Call for more punitive measures for minor nonviolent crimes.

And of course, you can contractually require minimum occupancy rates.

That last one is a doozy. In a make-believe state where no crimes took place, the government would nevertheless still be contractually obliged to arrest a certain number of its citizens anyway. You know, just to keep to the agreed prison quotas. Just to keep CCA shareholders happy.

Even here in the real world, the need to keep the turnstile spinning has resulted in greatly increased arrest rates for minor offenses and the re-opening of the school-to-prison pipeline. The net result is that the more people are tied up in the criminal justice system, the more people will find themselves with an indelible stain that irreparably damages their career and disenfranchises them.

Condemns them to a life of impoverishment. Or crime.

Which is just great.

No?

Watch the official trailer for the award-winning documentary 13th for more on the U.S. Criminal Justice system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V66F3WU2CKk

Featured image found at Marginal Revolution.

I'm a full- time, somewhat unwilling resident of the planet Earth. I studied journalism at Murdoch University in West Australia and moved back to the UK where I taught politics and studied for a PhD. I've written a number of books on political philosophy that are mostly of interest to scholars. I'm also a seasoned travel writer so I get to stay in fancy hotels for free. I have a pet Lizard called Rousseau. We have only the most cursory of respect for one another.