‘No prisons for profit’

[damnedifIknow]

"Can you imagine prisons for profit? Making money off the shattered lives of citizens and families? Privatization of the criminal justice system is just one more push for the privatization of institutions by our current Wisconsin administration. The Walker administration believes in “free market” systems for education, environment, health care, and even prisons. However, these privatization systems benefit the more wealthy, and not the rest of us.

When Gov. Walker was in the State Assembly, he introduced three separate bills for privatization of our prison system. These bills didn’t pass because they were strongly opposed by labor unions. This could be Walker’s incentive for working so hard to disable the power of unions and organized labor now. He also introduced bills to increase the prison populations with stricter definitions of crimes (e.g., auto, drug crimes, property), and so-called “truth-in-sentencing” such as mandatory minimums, and no early release under any circumstances. These policies significantly did balloon our prison populations. For example, Wisconsin’s prison budget went from 700 million in 1999 to 1.2 billion in 2009 or the third biggest expenditure for the state.

Most privatized prisons in other states are operated by the Correction Corporation of America (CCOA). In Ohio, the state has contracted to keep CCOA prisons 90% full."

http://www.beloitdailynews.com/opinion/no-prisons-for-profit/article_e47f197e-c80a-11e4-bb9a-7339615f550b.html

[TeamPooka]

1. K&R!

[malokvale77]

2. It is sick.

That our society thinks it is okay for anyone to profit off of people being imprisoned, is a moral failure.

[Tsiyu]

3. Yes it is, but only minorities and the poor suffer

so most people turn a blind eye.

It's criminal and should be unconstitutional.

Prisons should exist to house the dangerously violent and those who steal huge sums - like Wall Street losers and bankers. It should not be used as a "growth opportunity" for investors.

CCA and all for-profit prison employees, CEOs, and stockholders are the true criminal people among us. Making bank from creating new ways to exploit and imprison people should not be allowed, nor should it be rewarded with profit.

But it won't end until they start locking up middle class white people in larger numbers to meet their quotas. Since they've created so many poor people, they haven't run out of victims yet.

FUCK all judges, DAs and legislators who support this EVIL.

[malokvale77]

5. 100% agree.

I think there was a song once with the line, "Your time is gonna come".

I wish I knew how to post that.

[Tsiyu]

6. Is it this one?

[malokvale77]

7. Yes

I have it on LP. I have no clue how to post my LP's to the internet. LOL

Jeez I'm old.

Thank you. I think it is quite apt.

[Tsiyu]

9. It's a good'n

If you find a youtube video of a song you like, just copy the URL (the address in the browser window) and paste it in the text box here and there you go.

AND now I'm spending the early hours of my birfday ( shhhhhhh ) having unclean thoughts about Robert Plant.

Thanks, malokvale77!

No, really, thanks!

[malokvale77]

10. You are most welcome.

Happy Birthday.

There are worse ways to spend it than thoughts of Robert Plant. Uh Huh.

You just reminded me; something I must do before sleep.

Goodnight everybody.

[Tsiyu]

11. G'night

[DeSwiss]

4. Here's the problem:

[center][/center]

- Unfortunately it is beyond the help of fungicides to rid it of the capitalistic fungus and molds that infest it, and will soon devour it completely. Leaving only a few remnants of dried skin, a cratered-out hull and a few seeds. We'll likely have to wait another generation to see fruit again. But only if the ''right seeds'' reach acceptable medium in which to spout......

K&R

[malokvale77]

8. Well, yes.

Perfectly presented.

There is a fungus among us.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

12. The fact it even has to be said is damning.

[Tanuki]

13. I've always thought they used the for-profit medical system as a busness model, i.e.,

getting rich off of others' misfortune. Corrections Corporation of America is truly despicable. I hope those who are not familiar with who they are and what they do will read this:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Corrections_Corporation_of_America

<<<<"Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), incorporated in Maryland and headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, is the largest owner of for-profit prisons and immigration detention facilities in the United States. The only larger operators of such facilities are “the federal government and three states,” according to CCA. [1] It is publicly traded in the United States (NYSE: CXW) and had approximately 15,400 employees in 2013.[2] In 2013, CCA was converted into a real estate investment trust (REIT), which will help the company avoid tens of millions of dollars in corporate taxes.[3][4] CCA's revenue in 2013 was nearly $1.7 billion, and it had profits of $300 million, 100 percent of which came from taxpayers via government contracts.[2]

Since its founding in 1983, CCA has profited from federal and state policies that have led to a dramatic rise in incarceration and detention in the United States -- a rise of 500 percent over the past thirty years.[5][6][7] As of 2011, around half of all prisoners in state facilities were there for nonviolent crimes, and half of inmates in federal prisons were serving time for drug-related offenses.[8] Studies have shown that for many offenses, incarceration has little if any impact on public safety, and that time in prison actually increases a person's likelihood of committing more crimes.[9][10]

According to the Justice Policy Institute: "While private prison companies may try to present themselves as just meeting existing "demand" for prison beds and responding to current "market" conditions, in fact they have worked hard over the past decade to create markets for their product."[11]

Although it claims that it has not lobbied for bills that extend or increase sentences for prisoners, for nearly two decades CCA participated in and even led the task force of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that pushed bills like so-called “truth-in-sentencing” and “three strikes” legislation as models for states to adopt across the nation. CCA and its hired lobbying firms have spent about $21.1 million lobbying Congress and federal agencies from 1998 to August 2014 on bills relating to immigration, detention, and private prisons.[12] CCA has spent an untold sum lobbying for states to privatize or outsource incarceration responsibilities, and over that same period, it has steadily increased its share of both state and federal prisoners or detainees over the years, to 128,195 prisoners as of 2010.[13]

The company has become a multi-billion-dollar corporation that has been strongly criticized for many aspects of its operations, which amount to two primary critiques: (1) CCA's lobbying and campaign donations have led to federal and state policies and government contracts that fatten its bottom line, often at the expense of the public interest; (2) CCA’s profit-increasing strategies constitute a vicious cycle where lower wages and benefits for workers, high employee turnover, insufficient training, and chronic understaffing can lead to mistreatment of inmates, increased violence, security concerns, and riots. As discussed below, profit-focused measures that affect inmates, such as withholding medical care or inadequate nutrition, add to the volatility of the situation. This, in turn, has led to dangerous working conditions for correctional staff. CCA's history also includes allegations of falsifying records, fraudulently billing Medicaid, violating labor laws, and all around "cutting-corners." >>> (much more at link)