Private Prison Corporations. What about Corrections Corporation of America?

[Maddy McCall]

Anyone familiar with this company? They are looking to build a prison in a rural community in Mississippi, and the residents are strongly opposing it and are trying to gather signatures on a petition for a referendum on whether or not to allow the prison to enter.

The county officials support the prison, though.

I don't know much about privately owned prisons. What are the pros and cons of private prisons? Are the corporations that run them required to abide by the promises they make to the community when trying to seek favor for the project?

From what I've been reading, CCA is telling this rural community that the prison will hold low and medium security prisoners, mostly illegal immigrants. What's the potential effect of that on the community?

What kind of documentation is available to show the prison effects on the community?

Thanks in advance for any answers you can give. I'll be popping into DU off and on throughout the afternoon, so if I don't respond immediately, please check back because I'll probably have some questions.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. One of several reasons private prisons are bad.

Just the fact that they are for profit.

And what is the primary responsibility of a corporation to its shareholders: to make a profit. So now a prison is somewhat on the level as a motel, it has to try to keep its rooms filled.

And the prison can't solicit clientele like, say Holiday Inn. So now the criminal justice system is part of the financial quarterly projections. And that means more arrests with the prospect of more convictions, and more incarcerations, and more state aid, more jobs for county residents as guards, food suppliers, sanitation, etc. And all it takes is one word: GUILTY.

I would not expect to get exactly a fair trial in a jurisdiction with a for-profit prison.

[Maddy McCall]

2. I need to add that this is a FEDERAL prison...

it will house inmates from all over the US. I'm sorry that I didn't include that.

It won't house inmates from any single jurisdiction, but from all over the US.

[porphyrian]

3. Exactly. If it's profitable to put people in prison, more people will go.

Not to mention the increasing practice of using prisoners as slave labor, which is also profitable for corporations. By definition, corporations HAVE to put their profits before everything else. Connect those dots.

[stellanoir]

4. OMG

Given how utterly broken our penal system is, and in light of the decimation of the rule of law, thanks (NOT to the Military Commisions Act, and just how lucrative this has been for the very few, the privatization of the prison system, and how money is what it takes to absolve one of all crimes currently, and the fact that these private corporations are making 30,000-70,000 bucks off inmates per annum when they generally don't even earn that much, some of whom are merely non violent pot heads, many more (not the potheads) are domestic abusers, and rehabilitation is no longer even an option, and recidivism rates are off the frigging map, and we have war mongers and profiteers in charge who think they are above the laws long established, and "hogwash" can shoot a friend mistaking him for a lethargic domesticated bird when he's loaded with total impunity,

The system is so FUBAR that it fully warranted a run on sentence. /rant

Repeat after me. . .Not in my neighborhood or furthermore Not in my Country.

[JHB]

5. Imprisoning people should NEVER be done for profit.

It's just an incentive to add more.

It's one thing to just defray costs, but it's quite another to make it a profit center..

[TreasonousBastard]

6. Your question really has two parts...

The first is whether or not they want a prison in the neighborhood at all. I'm surprised that they are fighting this because many rural communities are actively campaigning to GET prisons, what with the job creation and general local boosting of the economy. I don't necessarily agree with the the positive economic impact of a prison, myself, but that's often the way they are sold. The downsides of having a prison aren't that much, though, and objections mainly seem to be ethical (don't see that as much of a problem in Mississippi) that it will look ugly (don't see that as a problem there, either) or that it will attract some very questionable people on visiting days. Some people are afraid of prison escapees, but escapes are rare.

CCA running the prison is another question, and I don't see any reason why them running it should make any difference to the town, unless they pay less to the guards, workers and local supply businesses. My objection to CCA is that the private sector has less accountability when running things the state should be running. Overall, as far as I know, CCA prisons aren't that much better or worse than "public" prisons, which are pretty bad business themselves, but it's a nasty idea.

[Marie26]

7. CCA sucks

They are a corporation that builds private prisons in desperate cities. They built one in Ohio, and the prison promptly had a jailbreak, some murders & many allegations of abuse. They also began secretly importing (high profit) DC maximum-security prisoners into the minimum-security prison. Not to say all their prisons are bad, but based on my own experience living near one, they are not very responsible or accountable.

This is a good overview of the controversy over this company - "CCA, the Sequel"- http://www.thenation.com/doc/19990607/bates