There is a sort of a good-news story has been getting, imho, entirely too little attention. It appears that several Venture Capital firms have crunched the numbers and determined that the incarceration industry is no longer a "growth investment" in the USA. Last week, Scopia Capital, DSM, and Amica Mutual Insurance sold off their interests in CCA and GEO, which between them control 75% of the "private prison marketplace".
The $600,000,000 in prison stock sold off by the VC firms is, really, not going to pose that big a hardship, as GEO and CCA generally rake in around $3 b-b-b-billion a year between them. However, I still see this as a good sign. I'll tell you why, under the infinite orange thingy.
The claims of the Venture Capitalists here, of course, are that they do this out of a pure sense of goodness and decency. In a statement to ColorOfChange.org, DSM President Hugh Welsh stated that the divestment was made "In accordance with the principles of the UN Global Compact, with respect to the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights," and "divestment was the right thing to do for our clients, shareholders, and the country as a whole. DSM is committed to good corporate citizenship and operating in a way that contributes to a better world.” Well, a better world is all fine & well, but in the same statement, Welsh also admitted that "Investment in private prisons and support for the industry is financially unsound," and where shareholders are involved, the last part of the statement overrides all other alleged "reasons" - they're just window-dressing.
So, one must wonder why, all of a sudden, the VC's look at the prison industry and say "sorry, we're done with you." My own suspicion is that in a nation in which several states appear to be moving in the direction of marijauna legalization, they're expecting to see a slowdown in the growth of our prison population. And, as I see it, flattening that growth curve has GOTTA be a good thing for the nation, considering that we currently have 5% of the globe's population, and 25% of it's prisoners!