Corrections Corp of America (which is traded on The New York Stock Exchange) proposed a deal to 48 states: The company would buy state prisons and manage them if the states guaranteed a 90% prison occupancy rate.

“Mass incarceration on a scale almost unexampled in human history is a fundamental fact of our country today—perhaps the fundamental fact, as slavery was the fundamental fact of 1850. In truth, there are more black men in the grip of the criminal-justice system—in prison, on probation, or on parole—than were in slavery then. Over all, there are now more people under ‘correctional supervision’ in America—more than six million—than were in the Gulag Archipelago under Stalin at its height.

”—Adam Gopnik, “The Caging of America”In an age when freedom is fast becoming the exception rather than the rule, imprisoning Americans in private prisons run by mega-corporations has turned into a cash cow for big business. At one time, the American penal system operated under the idea that dangerous criminals needed to be put under lock and key in order to protect society. Today, as states attempt to save money by outsourcing prisons to private corporations, the flawed yet retributive American “system of justice” is being replaced by an even more flawed and insidious form of mass punishment based upon profit and expediency.

As author Adam Gopnik reports for the New Yorker:

[A] growing number of American prisons are now contracted out as for-profit businesses to for-profit companies. The companies are paid by the state, and their profit depends on spending as little as possible on the prisoners and the prisons. It’s hard to imagine any greater disconnect between public good and private profit: the interest of private prisons lies not in the obvious social good of having the minimum necessary number of inmates but in having as many as possible, housed as cheaply as possible.

Consider this: despite the fact that violent crime in America has been on the decline, the nation’s incarceration rate has tripled since 1980. Approximately 13 million people are introduced to American jails in any given year. Incredibly, more than six million people are under “correctional supervision” in America, meaning that one in fifty Americans are working their way through the prison system, either as inmates, or while on parole or probation. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the majority of those being held in federal prisons are convicted of drug offenses—namely, marijuana. Presently, one out of every 100 Americans is serving time behind bars.

Little wonder, then, that public prisons are overcrowded. Yet while providing security, housing, food, medical care, etc., for six million Americans is a hardship for cash-strapped states, to profit-hungry corporations such as Corrections Corp of America (CCA) and GEO Group, the leaders in the partnership corrections industry, it’s a $70 billion gold mine. Thus, with an eye toward increasing its bottom line, CCA has floated a proposal to prison officials in 48 states offering to buy and manage public prisons at a substantial cost savings to the states. In exchange, and here’s the kicker, the prisons would have to contain at least 1,000 beds and states would have agree to maintain a 90% occupancy rate in the privately run prisons for at least 20 years.

The problem with this scenario, as Roger Werholtz, former Kansas secretary of corrections, recognizes is that while states may be tempted by the quick infusion of cash, they “would be obligated to maintain these (occupancy) rates and subtle pressure would be applied to make sentencing laws more severe with a clear intent to drive up the population.” Unfortunately, that’s exactly what has happened. Among the laws aimed at increasing the prison population and growing the profit margins of special interest corporations like CCA are three-strike laws (mandating sentences of 25 years to life for multiple felony convictions) and “truth-in-sentencing” legislation (mandating that those sentenced to prison serve most or all of their time). http://bit.ly/LkbN2E
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Slaves of The State:

The U.S. has little problem condemning the export of prison-made goods from China. What makes this blatant hypocrisy is the fact that the same criticisms leveled by the U.S. government against Chinese prison-made goods can be leveled at U.S. prison-made goods.

Prison-made goods from California and Oregon are being exported for retail sales. In a supreme irony, the California DOC is marketing its clothing lines in Asia, competing against the sweatshops of Indonesia, Hong Kong, Thailand and of course, China.

The Prison Blues brand of clothes, made by prisoners in Oregon, has annual projected sales of over $1.2 million in export revenues. U.S. State department officials were quoted saying they wished prison-made goods were not exported by state DOC's because it is being raised as an issue by other governments.

Namely the Chinese, which have cited U.S. practices in response to criticisms. For their part, the Chinese have announced a ban on their export of prison-made goods while the U.S. is stepping up such exports.

California prisoners making clothes for export are paid between 35 cents and $1 an hour. The Oregon prisoners are paid between $6 to $8 an hour but have to pay back up to 80 percent of that to cover the cost of their captivity. As they are employed by a DOC-owned company this is essentially an accounting exercise where the prisoners' real wages are between $1.20 to $1.80 an hour. Still competitive with the wages paid to illegal immigrant sweatshop workers here in the U.S. and wages paid to garment workers in the Far East and Central America.

While the particulars may change, the trend continues towards increased exploitation of prison slave labor. Some states, especially those in the South-such as Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana-still have unpaid prisoners laboring in fields supervised by armed guards on horseback, with no pretense of "rehabilitation" or "job training." In those states the labor is mandatory, refusal to work brings harsh punishment and increases prison sentences served.

Workers on the outside should also be aware of the consequences that prison slave labor poses for their jobs. Ironically, as unemployment on the outside increases, crime and the concomitant incarceration rate increases. It may be that before too long people can only find menial labor intensive production jobs in prisons or Third World countries where people labor under similar conditions. The factory with fences meets the prison without walls. http://bit.ly/J2Q2l2
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From: One Billion Against Indefinite Detention ~ facebook page

Good old Jan Brewer of Arizona signed on to this!

It amazes me how blatantly ignorant government is, they keep pushing and pushing thinking everything is H O N K Y dory because there is no instant backlash. They're too stupid and pre occupied making business deals for their buddies to see the swell rising in this country. I hope the tidal wave comes in the form of 90% of incumbents being fired but I think it will go another way unfortunately.

It's disgusting!

A system set up to profit off the poorest and most desperate.
This isn't about justice...

Disturbing thing is..people SEEM to be ok with this,
as long as it's not one of their own.

I can see a future where being in prison might be easier than trying to survive in the outside, paying taxes to support the government who is paying the private prisons.

Just like so many young people join the service because they can't find jobs.

It is the nature of this galaxy whose method of operation has always been geared towards slavery.

Humans, some believe, were originally designed to be slaves.

WE SHOULD FIGHT AGAINST THE IDEA OF PRIVATE PRISONS.

**** is going to hit the fan in this country real hard. Unlike other countries, this one has better than 100,000,000 gun owners. Americans aren't above fighting the government, anyone remember the civil war?

It's already hitting the fan....just gotta look in the right places.

Nothing like it potentially could, not even close.

I love the idea of private prisons. I just think that most people who currently go to prison, shouldn't. What good is it to send a man to prison for non-payment of child support? Now, not only does the child not get the child support, but a citizen loses his job and the child loses his father. How about the prostitute who is simply trying to feed her drug habit? Should she have her freedom taken away for charging a fee for something she can give away freely? Why are drugs still illegal in the most free country in the world? Why do we lock up people simply because they want to put poison into their bodies? Violent / sex crimes and repeat offenders deserve prison time, all other crimes should be punished with community service.

I favor private prisons, because they can be run more cheaply and humanely and most importantly, there is less chance of corruption. Inmates are abused by guards in public prisons and they rarely have any recourse. With a private prison, the inmates can complain to the controlling Government authority and expect a rapid response.

I don't want a civil war, i don't want ANY war....
the $hit IS hitting the fan.
There are changes going on, people ARE aware and active.

As stated in the earlier post, I do not want another civil war, but would prefer to fire some people. Unfortunately there are not enough people conscious enough to do so, too many wrapped up in being democrat or republican.

Prison stocks are a no-lose deal.
Questions I pose;
Will pacifists surrender to da' man?
Will progressives and liberals be given a free pass?

It's a system set up to profit off other humans...
that makes it inappropriate.

Bored. Nice idea, those with arms band together.
However, the UN outguns us, big time and, I fear, progressives would stab us in the back to save their own hides.

Should we close down private schools, hospitals and grocery stores?

As I see it, private prisons provide a public service. I don't see how a private prison is any different from a public prison, except for the possible cost savings, the better conditions and the legal recourses available to the inmates for abusive guards.

I'm fairly confident there would be a rather handsome number of military generals who would turn their weaponry on D.C. and anyone who opposes the people of this country if it ever goes that far.

I don't want to own a gun.
I'm a pacifist....

Could i still be on "your side" because we both believe in freedom..
or would you stab me in the back to save your hide because I believe differently?

Actually yes...the education system is corrupt.
The medical establishment is corrupt.
The majority of our food is poison and
even that system is corrupt.
Yep, shut it all down, start over.

Because the inmates have no protection from the government on how they are treated. Also because the more prisoners they have the more they get paid therefore, they have no problem arresting you and tossing you in prison because its just good business.

And the tax payers end up paying the government who pays the prisons.

Eventually the prisoners will be used for cheap labor. Rounding up and arresting people and convicting them and putting them in prison is just another way of collecting (legally) HUMAN SLAVES.

Then, because prisoners work for very little or nothing, there will be less or no jobs for people outside.

If you can't see the problem with this you need to think on it a little more.

Having worked for a state run prison I can tell you do not know what you are talking about. Inmates have too many rights while being incarcerated as far as I'm concerned. Here is something to think about and it is an absolute truth, if an inmate runs out of his/her cell and punches you then runs back into his/her cell and sits or lays down you as an officer cannot lay a finger on them. It goes so far that other officers must come remove the inmate from the cell and move them. If you retaliate, the inmate will sue you, the warden, the prison and the state. Its happened and the courts sided with the inmates because they are imprisoned 24 hrs a day and have no escape from their reality.

A fish rots from the head. Our Government, which tells us every day that we should eat a high carb / low fat diet is killing us. Our Government prevents us from having potentially life saving drugs, while driving up the cost of the drugs that are available. Our Government makes deals with Public School unions, which protects them from being fired and gives them huge pensions and enviable benefits, even when they commit horrible crimes and also keeps bad teachers on the job and doesn't reward good teachers. There are firemen who can retire at 50 with full benefits and 90% of their salary AND WE HAVE TO PAY FOR IT!

But if we take away the hospitals, schools and grocery stores, do you worry about the millions who will suffer and die? What about the people who WANT private education or need medical attention or want to eat junk food? Do their rights count for nothing? Wouldn't it make more sense to cut back the Government to the constitutionally mandated powers and leave the rest for the people to decide?