Not at all. I said it doesn't matter who the stockholders are. You mean that black men, statistically, are incarcerated at a higher rate than white men. That doesn't mean that they are guilty 100% of the time. Nor is that true for Hispanics Asians or Caucasian inmates. The point is regardless of color they are ALL slaves.
I don't watch msnbc, and I'm not liberal. I'm for death penalty when it fits and there is conclusive videos photographic and or DNA evidence and the crime fits the punishment.
You're reading what you think is there not what I said. Prisons are college for criminals, in many cases career criminals. What we were talking about is that instead of an institution which had many issues before its now an industry. An industrial criminal complex (or organization) that's has 48 states by the balls. An industry where the lives of millions of human souls are bought and sold on wall street, and they're robbing our state's respective governments blind.

agreed, nice phucking mullet brah! hahaahah

again i agree, this is terrible. apparently private prisons is one of the fastest growing industries in america, which means its growing, which means its goin to get even worse. SMH

How corporate interests have revived slavery in America

private prison industryThe absolutely dismal state of our prison system is a significant cause for alarm. The number of prisoners grows every year, seemingly out of proportion to the overall increase in population. As corporate activity within the private prison industry has infected the process of incarceration it is clear that the market dictates that the supply of prisoners be constant and ever-increasing.

The ever-prevalent corporatism of the private prison industry serves to disgust any truly progressive individual. The question that arises is: Why aren’t more people up in arms about this bastardization of the criminal justice system? The answer should be obvious. Money talks.

The private prison industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the American economy. The modern private prison system began in the mid-1980s when the CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) assumed the first contract ever awarded to a private corporation in the United States. Other companies which propagate the awful practice are the GEO Group and Community Education Centers of America.

These corporations more often than not send their prisoners to work for near-slave wages. They make everything from paintbrushes to helmets for the US military, all for cents per hour. If this doesn’t scream “Military Industrial Complex” I don’t know what does.

The very existence of private prisons is an insult to the guiding principles of progressive society. Allowing the corporate sector to stick its filthy hands into any part of the government, let alone the criminal justice and penal systems should be the cause of mass outrage. The only problem is that regular people have absolutely no say in the process.

Sure we’re told that our votes count but let’s get real, the corporations are the ones with the wallets. They have armies of lobbyists, lawyers, and PR agents to spin public perception. This is power that exists on a level far beyond that of the average American citizen, even any significant group of citizens. This is a systemic problem that must be solved through systemic means.

The corporate masters of the United States have their wretched tentacles in every single part of Americans’ lives, from the moment they’re born to the moment they die. Americans live in an artificial, plastic world of labels, advertisements, and mass-marketing; is it unfitting that their penal experience should come with a corporate stamp as well?

It is evident that this trend will only persist owing to the unending profit-motive of any corporate entity. The market dictates that where there is profit to be made, the demand for that profit will spring up. The financial sector has already gotten in the door and invested millions. Even companies like General Electric are intertwined with this perverted system.

The ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) represents the (metaphorical) fattened, golden, screaming piglet of the right wing establishment. The group consists of Republican lawmakers as well as “representatives” of the corporate sector. They work together in order to “advance” the interests of free market capitalism as well as to promote Federal idealism on the state level.

In other words, they figure out how much it will cost to buy votes and pick which bills pass. The ALEC assured that private prison legislation entered the common law. It has also consistently worked against the interests of the American worker by trying to replace many unionized positions with the slave labor of prisoners. In the past the ALEC has also supported the implementation of minimum mandatory sentencing.

The War on Drugs has vastly increased the reach of the prison system. It is obvious that the for-profit sector of this industry benefits itself whenever possible. This is why many state governments as well as the federal government have an incentive to keep drugs illegal. The ridiculous drug laws in this country, while they are improving at a painfully slow rate, necessarily draw an ever-widening stream of prisoners (mostly African American and Hispanic) into their jaws.

private prison industry, african americansThese types of laws have served to destroy the stability of many African American and Hispanic communities in the United States. This has only acted to drive them further away from the law and towards occupations which tend to land them in prison. It truly is a brilliant piece of business ingenuity.

Prison guard unions try to insure that those who are District Attorneys are disproportionately appointed as judges. These judges can then further the cause of the drug war. The system that has been created is self-perpetuating in the sense that it is able to lobby to change the laws that have an effect on its bottom line (The ALEC is proof enough of this). The rise of private prisons in connection to this has certainly done no favors to efforts at reform.

As of 2013, the prison system contains some 2.3 million individuals. This process costs the US Federal government $55 Billion per year. 10% of these prisons are controlled fully by corporate entities. Between 1990 and 2010 the number of privately operated prisons in the U.S. increased 1600%. Private prisons have increased both in numbers and individuals incarcerated within them.

The massive behemoth that is the American prison system must be dismantled. By this I mean that the arbitrarily-enforced and for-corporate-and-government-benefit monster must be deprived of its life-blood: prisoners. The drug war must end and those currently in prison serving for non-violent drug offenses must be released nation-wide.

The current state of our penal system is no less than embarrassing. Its very structure has lent itself to the destruction of the lives of innocent individuals who did no more than possess a substance that has been (for obvious reasons) banned by the establishment. Of course it is important to note that these laws extend far beyond just the Drug War. The system is inherently interested in self propagation and, by extension, gluttonous abuse of American citizens. It is a “survival of the fittest” supply and demand situation where incentive dictates that revenue be generated through the unwarranted application of the law.

Black, white, red... It shouldn't matter, they're still convicts and the Prison system's gonna make its bucks on them regardless of gender or color.


Yes but at least when the States were operating them that money was going back into the state's budgets. We pretty much all know that the money wasn't going back into the corrections facilities but infrastructure or schools is better than lining some already rich bastards pockets while the state's doing all the costly work of investigation arresting and trials and appeals. That would be like writing your boss a check for the hours you work for him then he sues you for it not being big enough. That's what's going on here. Some of them are hardened career criminals, some got unfairly sentenced or denied parole to fill a quota. What would happen if a company (ex. car dealership) stopped sending in money? The cars can't pay for themselves but the factories can't sell them without dealers. The company would go belly up like many have in recent years. Our (in)justice system isn't something we need going belly up corrupt or not.

this is just sick tho, profiting off people suffering is just sick. granted there are some people that do belong in prison, but this is just ridiculous. people arrested for drug offenses should not be sittin in prison. unless you committed some kind of heinous crime while on the drug. way i feel its your body, you should be able to decide that you ingest. the fact that like 70% of people in prison are there for drug offenses is sickening.

Example of product of environment. One sure way to win a war is to cut 'the enemies' supply lines. Another way is to sabotage them, taking them out of the fight before they can have an effect on its outcome in their favor. Yet another is to convince a few powerful people they they can make millions of dollars without lifting a finger if they are willing to sell out some of their own people. That's what happened.

Mj, I agree. Actual narcotics, no. Heroin cocaine, crack, meth, they deserve to rot or fry. Anyway the war on drugs is the most expensive extensive longest and most deadly war the US ever lost and it's not even over yet.

Not as sickening as the systematic release of rapists and child abusers to make room for the drug offending middlemen. There are points of origin for cocaine and heroin that aren't in the US which means every bit of it in the US was grown processed packaged and imported from abroad by a cartel in another country. The people incarcerated here are for the most part the people who make small sales to users. None of them control the source, no matter how much they trafficked or profited.
What I fail to understand is how any educated elected or appointed official can't see that these people can make much more of a contribution to society and the IRS if they were working legally on the outside vs costing us billions to feed and house in jails. Plus the fact that they are basically selling in effect a good number of our countries workforce into slavery and paying for it.

see my whole thing is, i could care less if someone sits in there house and smoke crack or shoots heroin, its when they go out and rob people to support their habit that gets me. but if it were legal, i dont think there would be as much crime associated with it. look at portugal, they decriminalized all drugs, and there drug problem is lower than its been for a long time. i believe in peoples freedom of choice. if crack was legal, would i go smoke it tomorrow? hell no of course not, but i dont feel like i should be able to tell someone else they cant. as long as theyre not causing me any harm, have fun go at it hit the pipe all ya want. i smoke mj, and i love it. some people like crack, so phuck it lettem smoke it, as long as theyre not bothering me i could care less. if it was all legal an easier to get, price would go down, more people would have it. instead of crackheads going out and robbing people to get a rock, since if legal it would be cheaper and more available, they can just ask one of their crackhead buddies for a little bit.

yea statistically, most drug offenders in jail, are users, not even dealers.

Portugal is a good model, but crack hurts everyone, heroin hurts everyone and it can't be sourced here. Prices won't go down because it still has to be imported. I think if mj was legalized and rehabs for current junkies of the other stuff were run similar to Portugal it could work. Make penalties for hard drugs severe, after an amnesty that is honest allows you to join a collective. After the amnesty period increase the severity to death. This benefits society, the dealers, the users, the middles,the governments, the healthcare system,....
Everyone but the private prisons the corrupt politicians and the cartels. They can go eat 5#it I don't care. This p.c. Bs 'oh we can't have a death penalty' is killing the rest of US and CCA is laughing all the wau to the bank.

The U.S incarcerates more inmates than the entire world COMBINED and they still shamelessly call it "the land of the free" like a slap in the face to all those innocent people who spent years locked up for crimes they did not commit.
I bet that at least 30% of inmates don't need to be incarcerated. Many of them are actually innocent, have been entrapped, set up or simply cannot pay for a lawyer to gives a ****.
And let's not even talk about all those dead people that the U.S has wrongfully killed with capital punishment, a barbaric and vengeful tool for the blood-thirsty, self-righteous death-worshipping American society.

We haven't even touched on Juvenile Incarceration. A country that locks up it's children has no ground to criticize other countries over Human Rights abuses!!

don't hold back Man,don't hold back!

As if... We Europeans have had enough of American war-mongering and self-perceived superiority.
WE DON'T want Europe to become like Iraq! We want American troops the hell out of our countries!

http://rt.com/news/230503-le-pen-us-lackey/

And she only echoes the average European's opinion. Can't vote for her but I sure would were I French!

It's high time, for Europe's security and it's interests, to reject the U.S bullying it's way into European affairs and to bring back some diplomacy towards countries that have always been our REAL allies.

A business? more like extortion. A business in a free enterprise system stands on it's own. If the beds aren't full the owners need to find another avenue to produce revenue and EARN their way. The taxpayer should not be footing the bill.

That said, farms, energy companies, fishing, you name it. A lot of industries receive gov't subsidies. The scary thing about this one is that encourages imprisonment.

I am actually glad to hear that there is a problem keeping the prisons full. If that's the case that is good news. And, the states auditors need to take these contractors to court and a good look at any special interests behind those agreements. Beat 'em at their own game.

it is also one of the safest places to live in the world. That's why our State Dept. has a HUGE website for travelers. Most Americans have no clue about the kind of trouble they could face abroad.

The prison system is not perfect but I'd rather the occupants be there than in my front yard....because most of them have done something to earn their spot.

I doubt we are the only country in the world who has mistakenly imprisoned someone. I agree we have too many in our prisons. Many of them should be deported (and probably will be when they get out). I know lots of people who have never been in a prison or arrested. They simply obey the law...sometimes imperfectly but basically they are law abiding. pretty simple.

Safest place to live in the world? What effed up poll did you see that in, a Fox poll or a CNN poll? (both are ****, lol)
You're not even safe at a Bible study, theaters or even a school!!
"Ok, kids, today we're gonna learn about muzzle velocity. First rule: run!!!
And the ones who are supposed to keep you safe would sooner bash your head against their squad car than do their job properly.
safest... gimme a break. Don't you know how ridiculous you Americans are when you come up with crap like that?
Land of the free

Listen...I've resigned from my job at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Correctional division..my rank was COIV, four years of service, and all I can say is I'm glad I'm out. I've been a correctional officer for four years now so this is coming from a real world source. Blacks make up 15% of the USA's population, but easily 45% of our prison population in Texas prisons. I'm proud of what I've done, but cannot take this administration and agency with their policies any longer which is why my last day is the 23rd of this month. I don't know why, but blacks statistically make up a large percent of the prison population. And, to top that off, as Correctional Staff, I've researched many TDC numbers and my own friends locked up. The fact is, it takes A LOT of trouble with the law to make it past city jail, county jail, state jail, and THEN PRISON. I am sick of the job but I know what I know.

Privatizing the prison systems would lead to utter chaos unless it went back to what we used to do as CO's when I started...not gonna say anything incriminating but it's changed a lot in four years, to the point where I cannot handle the agency anymore. Inmates are and always have been the least of my concerns. It's pretty bad when I get asked "what's the scariest thing about prison?" and my response is "The lieutenants and sergeants who I answer to."

I guess that means you wont be coming here for a holiday soon.