http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-pr...es-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289 http://www.alternet.org/civil-liber...ns-about-how-private-prisons-make-their-money http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/private-prison-quotas_n_3953483.html Will Congress ever get around to addressing the -extended sentences for minor drug possession (resulting in overcrowding) -extremely high minimum quota policy -big FOR PROFIT business of private prisons -extended sentences for nonviolent, nonsexual crimes Prison needs a whole lot of changing 'cause right now, it's a burden. We've got more prisoners than India and China combined. http://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison-population-total?field_region_taxonomy_tid=All Highest incarceration rate in the world, blowing away countries like Cuba and Russia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate
Make all prisoners corporate slaves(rocket river faints). Pay the low level criminals 9 cents an hour and force the high level creeps into forced labor. No more tv. No more gay secks.
That's messed up. Seems like any kind of occupancy guarantee would represent a conflict of interests. I wonder why the warm weather states dominate this kind of agreement ... the vast majority of the guaranteed prisons are below the 36th parallel:
because that's where the for-profit prison companies are based and focus, they partner with red state/wingnut "tough on crime" meme in the statehouses, along with a healthy bit of government teat graft & legal corruption, and ride it all the way to the bank, courtesy of the public. Also land is cheaper there. Win-win.
The private prison thing is massively overstated - they don't spend very much money by the standards of a lobby and control less than 10 percent of America's prisoners. They are not even remotely close to a reason for America's incarceration rate. If anything, if you wanted to blame any single lobby, you should be looking at the much bigger prison guard unions.
Both are a problem but you are correct that the prison guard union is a huge problem. Guess who's behind the three strike rule? Our society needs to have an honest moment and ask itself if these incarceration rates are acceptable. The drug war, mandatory minimum sentencing & prison violence have wrecked generations of families for millions of Americans.
Once you install an economic incentive into something . . . .. corruption follows The corruption here is .. it is no longer about rehabilitation or punishment it is about a Cash Grab If they had incentives based on Educating these guys, lower recidivism[sp?], etc .. . I could work with that. But mandatory high occupacy is crap Rocket River
What is their public M.O.? incarcerate people longer for lesser crimes so they can keep the beds full? private prisons are only a part of the problem - but it shows how flawed the system is when you openly have things like minimum quotas.
More prisoners, more guards, more union members, higher salaries, more union dues. Follow the money. But yes they push for 3 strike rules that don't factor severity of the crimes committed. Look at the origins of the 3 strike rule in California if you want more details.
1. Why is 10% of the entire US prison population being privatized considered a small thing? 2. Lobbying spending is a terrible measure of anything in absolute terms. Who are they lobbying against? Is there an organized opposition to them? If not, the amounts don't need to be nearly as large. If you're lobbying for or against gun control, for example, the number will have to be large because there's an opposition that's spending a whole bunch too. But private prisons? You're not competing with anyone.
