Excessive sentences, aka “bonus justice” is the rich soil in which for-profit detention has taken root.
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In hopes of extending this infographic’s reach (Huffington Post’s smart use of BJS data) I now present the biggest argument for the growing national dialogue on prison reform in America: Lock-up Quotas.
For years, Morgan Stanley, Ameriprize, Barclays, Invesco, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, among others, have invested heavily in for-profit detention. So, if you’re someone who still dismisses incarceration as being for “those people,” perhaps you should follow the money. You see, the same idiots who mistakenly foreclose on people’s homes, may wind up deciding just how long your brother, sister, son or daughter are detained for public drunkenness. Operating at such a competency level, and with occupancy the highest priority for private prisons, all bets will soon be off with regards to who fills those beds.
Sound crazy? Sure it does, but at the rate we’re going it’s not hard to imagine a day when banking institutions and financial investment companies open pop-up prisons like so many Wal-Marts.
On the eve of mandatory minimum sentence reform, the billion-dollar private prison industry is the last place America needs a collision between judicial proficiency and corporate shareholder satisfaction. Oh, sorry. Too late! Excessive sentences, aka “bonus justice” is the rich soil in which for-profit detention has taken root. Having served time behind bars, I tend to think the scary part for the public might be the assault rates in corporate prisons being three times higher on average than in state facilities, but those statistics have yet to receive a lot of attention.
Without a complicit criminal justice system, ever more influenced by these financial entities, today’s lock-up quotas wouldn’t be so easily and enthusiastically enforced across the country. Have a look:
This post originally appeared at Where Excuses Go To Die
Photo: AP File/Matt York
There is little doubt that there are aspects of the criminal justice system that does good,essential work,stepping in as surrogate family for many pridoners.Prison for profit is a different story.Since profit is based upon high incarseration rates,rehabilitation is less than an afterthought.Powerful prison lobbyists payoff politicians to keep it that way.Antiquated,regressive, draconian, drug laws that target the most vulnerable are an expensive luxury a free society can ill afford.
Mr John Espinosa Nelson,may I ask … were you incarcerated in one of these private prisons?
I cut 8 pages off of this. I’d suggest if any of you have any questions or would like additional information on their locations and services, go to their site and click on locations. Please note that I attempted to cut down a lot of what I obtained from their site …. For approximately 40 years, GEO Community’s Youth Services division has provided residential, shelter care, and alternative education programs specifically designed to address the needs of individuals within the juvenile justice system with programs tailored to the specific treatment needs of youthful offenders in need of mental, behavioral health,… Read more »
I’m going to attempt to post something that is very lengthy regarding a prison system which I investigated. What I want to post are the services this system provides so that people can take a realistic view of at least one of these systems.
For profit prisons are a travesty. Sometimes I wonder if the US really is one of the most insane countries in the world. Too, I have a big issue with the way this sort of thing is promoted as a free market solution, when in fact privatization is not synonymous with the free market because often privatization means a government granted monopoly.