Private prisons highlight the disposability of men.
This morning at 11:00 a.m., GEO Senior Vice President John Hurley spoke to shareholders in a conference call to report that the company, a private prison operator, had seen an incredible 56% spike in profits for the first quarter of 2013, and he was optimistic about continuing the trend. Why? Because “the Federal Bureau of Prisons continues to face capacity constraints coupled with a growing offender population.”
While it is statistically accurate that the prison population is has marginally increased in the past three years, the Bureau of Justice Statistics has shown that, for the third year in a row, the correctional population has actually been in a steady decline.
GEO, like any private prison company, sees everything in terms of dollar signs. As the prison bureau faces problems with their budget, Hurley believes this “will have no material negative impact on [their] business.” Why? Because they make money from selling “bed space” to the government. The more criminals sent to prison, the more will need to be “outsourced” to these private jails. These disposable men—for over 93% of prisoners are male—are not being housed or even secured. They do not matter—only the space they take up, because that space is rentable. Many private prisons have actually taken to becoming real estate investment trusts (REIT), allowing them to receive tax reductions for renting their space to the government.
But our government, with the world’s highest prison population, cannot handle all of the people that pass through its prisons, so they are sold to private companies like GEO, which is well known for inmate abuse, contract violations, and outright lying. And in an industry which, by definition, is about profit-making, the humane treatment of prisoners, inmate rehabilitation, public safety have no effect on a company’s bottom line—except of course, by ignoring regulations to save a buck.
The abuses of private prisons are well-known, but the conference call for GEO points to something just as dark: the companies profit from treating men like commodities, but there are people actively investing in those companies. Jailers may be the ones committing the crimes, but there are people out there who either condone this abuse or simply see men as disposable—and these people keep giving money to the private prison corporations.
What makes a person with money invested in GEO, for instance, better than John Hurley, who deals in living merchandise and human cages? What makes John Hurley better than the guard who rapes an inmate? If all it takes for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing, do we still consider them good men? Even investors who want prison reform, who want to make conditions better, may have no actual contact with these companies other than buying stock in the hopes that will fix things. Where do we draw the distinction between active evil and indifference or ignorance, and do we define either of these groups of people solely on this one issue?
Photo: Jumilla/Flickr
Sign my petition (and share) on trying to bring attention to the dangerous private prisons operating here in Mississippi:
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/no-more-deaths-at-private?source=c.tw&r_by=7695613
@WillBest: I can assure you that I m doing no such thing. I know fullwell that so called racial diversity doesn’t come close to encompassing the depth and breadth of diversity among humanity. I also know that states rights doesn’t excuse slavery. Don’t tell me what to do, I can own slaves if I want to. or because Ihav states rights, is morally reprehensible, in my view. Maybe you feel differently. IF those poor,under educated bastards decided to defend the interests of decadent, morally corrupt, rich men and women to defend a thinly veiled political principal designed to give moral… Read more »
This is very true. Along time ago I made some wrong choices. I was housed in a county jail owned by a company called CCA. Which I heard was even on the stock market and has made in bundle in locking up people . I was almost killed in jail I can’t believe I am alive.
In Florida their is a prison every 50 miles including the Florida Keys. We are denied access to housing and those who have drug charges are denied the Pell Grant. And all licenses are denied even becoming a Nail Technicians.
Reasons why we have the largest criminal population
1) War on Drugs which counts for a sizable amount of that
2) Diversity. The more diversity you have the more conflict you have, and the more conflict you get the more incidents of violence you get
3) A regulatory framework that screws over urban youth by jacking up the cost of business sky high creating a dearth of jobs available for them to cut their teeth on making gangs and drug trade that much more attractive
Hi WillBest
You write:
“Diversity. The more diversity you have the more conflict you have, and the more conflict you get the more incidents of violence you get”.
What kind of diversity are you talking about?
Do you class differences ,muliti enicity, cultural? Poverty and wealth? The have and the have not?
Do in fact the US have more divercety than in Europe?
Diversity in any form leads to conflict. Hell somebody got stabbed at a Falcon’s game last year over diversity in sports team preference. Sometimes that conflict is healthy and leads to betterment of the species, sometimes it is harmful. For example, I am sure the Native American population of the US could have done without the diversity the Europeans brought. The US has more diversity than pretty much any single EU country, of course not as much as them collectively. Then again the EU collectively isn’t fairing very well, and the only way that they have managed to keep it… Read more »
@WillBest: The primary problem with your argument for me rests in it’s failure to explain why then white people fought the civil war. As I am sure you know, that war often pitted relative against relative. In general, your point doesn’t explain why even among “like people ” there has always been war and strife. I think your point is impossible to measure. I would also hazard to say that how a specific people perceives those who are different varies tremendously.
You are falling into dimwitted view of diversity by focusing on skin color and by doing so you are failing to respect the complexity of the Civil War or the US at the time it happened. The men in the south didn’t fight and die over the issue of slavery, though it was the catalyst. Nearly everybody that did the dying didn’t own slaves and most of those couldn’t ever hope to afford one. They weren’t out there over the principle of slave ownership. There were massive social and economic differences between the north and the south that included differing… Read more »
@Yohan: It started with the get tough on crime policies that led to the three strikes laws being passed and picked up momentum during the failed war on black, poor white and brown men…er I mean, on drugs.
This question should focus more about why are so many US-citizens – the large majority of course are men – in jail in the USA.
USA has the largest prison population worldwide and I see no reason why only US-citizens should be so much more into criminal activity than citizens living in other countries.
To date, GEO’s operations include the management and/or ownership of 96 correctional, detention and community re-entry facilities encompassing approximately 72,000 beds. A % of these are residential treatment centers as well as transitional housing.
I should note that “management” means that the facility is not their own.
During 2011, the number of prisoners under the jurisdiction of state and federal correctional authorities …. 1,598,780. – Geo represents approximately 5% of the overall population. The government, with all of its inefficiencies is taking care of the other 95%
Tom,
While the private prison industry may be heavily regulated in IL, here in AZ nothing could be further from the truth. If you haven’t seen the movie American Drug War: The Last White Hope, I encourage you to watch it. We have an epidemic of politicians taking money from the industry and passing laws funding private facilities and then making sure the facilities stay as full as possible, because the stock values of corporate incarceration machines literally rise and fall based on occupancy rates. It’s a sick industry, much like the military contractor business.
So is your problem with their being a prison or that they are for profit and are cost effectively doing what state and federal prisons are not? Please let me know where I can get specific information relating to “GEO, which is well known for inmate abuse, contract violations, and outright lying.? When I followed the highlight, it didn’t give me any information about this. Prisons in general are the proverbial last stop for many men. It’s the court system that places the men in the prisons. It’s society that’s ignored the needs of men, men’s issues. It’s society that’s… Read more »
Hi Tom, That is a valid question, and my answer is neither. I have no problem with private prisons in general because, you’re right, the government cannot house every prisoner right now, so private prisons can potentially be great resources. The issue is when the money they make doesn’t go into rehabilitation or safety and these areas are pushed aside in favor of profits for the company and its stockholders. The company is supposed to provide for the prisoners, not the other way around, so the men become objects when their needs become less important than the company’s bottom line.… Read more »
Abigail … Thank you for the links …. And thank you for clarifying your position. I can say that here in Illinois facilities like GEO’s are heavily monitored and regulated as to their conditions. In particular residential facilities have to meet Medicaid, DASA and Joint Commission reviews. That’s not to say things don’t happen.
Thanks again for the information and thanks for caring.