This practice is morally wrong. Cut and dry. I find it utterly contemptible that that is becoming an accepted as a legitimate business.
It is now becoming politically expedient to whisk away prisoners to privately run for-profit detention facilities. Fueled by mandatory minimum sentences and 'three strikes' laws inmate populations have been soaring across the country. In order to deal with this some states are choosing to export their problems and the 'incarceration corporations' are raking in the dough: (from the San Diego UT)
Wall Street likes the companies' prospects. Corrections Corp. has seen its stock rise more than 50 percent since the start of the year, to $46 a share last week. The price of Florida-based GEO Group's stock has more than doubled over the same period, closing at $38 Friday.
Simply put, the more prisoners the greater their profit potential. This is evil, no company should be permitted to profit from human suffering. The apparent glee with which those who are reaping the profits greet the increasing 'supply' of inmates immediately illustrates the inherent inhumanity. One, Tom Rankin, said "Good...[grinning]...give me the inmates anytime." (same source) I'm sure we can trust these folks not to cut corners on medical care, libraries, or counseling services to bolster the bottom line! I'd trust anybody who is in the business of profiting from human cattle-herding.
Take a look at this if you don't think their is serious money being made here:
Key: red=CXW, orange=industry, green=S&P500. Link.
Overcrowded prisons have long been a problem. Politicians are all too eager to pass get-tough-on-crime legislation but are relatively reluctant to make in-kind investments in the prison system or inmate rehabilitation. The prisons are a dark underbelly of society which elected officials would rather not discuss.
Here in California prison overcrowding is downright out of control. A large part of the problem is Proposition 184 (otherwise known as the 'three strikes and you're out' law). These laws might sound like common sense but in practice lead to ridiculous sentences. The California version for example counts underage (juvenile) shoplifting conviction as a strike. Other examples from wikipedia:
Some unusual scenarios have arisen, particularly in California — the state punishes shoplifting and similar crimes as felony petty theft if the person who committed the crime has a prior conviction for any form of theft, including robbery or burglary. As a result, some defendants have been given sentences of 25 years to life in prison for such crimes as shoplifting golf clubs (Gary Ewing, previous strikes for burglary and robbery with a knife), nine videotapes (Leandro Andrade, previous strikes for home burglary), or a slice of pepperoni pizza from a group of children (Jerry Dewayne Williams, four previous non-violent felonies, sentence later reduced to six years). In one particularly notorious case, Kevin Weber was sentenced to 26 years to life for the crime of stealing four chocolate chip cookies (previous strikes of burglary and assault with a deadly weapon)
This is what you get when you remove judicial discretion to consider the merits of individual cases and circumstances. I know this issue is not at the top of anyone's to-do list as the political will for these sorts of reforms is hard to find. But I find this trend of for-profit 'inmate farming' to be a particularly disturbing one. You can bet these companies will be backing more get-tough-on-crime legislation in short order. When do we realize that we don't solve our social problems by locking people up for life? This smacks of a sick desire to create a sub-human slave class. Only through investment in education, social services, and elimination of poverty can we really make a difference.
What would Johnny Cash say?
For the record I am not on a personal crusade. I have been lucky as I have not been incarcerated, nor have I known anyone well who has been--I just find this unacceptable.