Private Prisons Are Stealing Our Money

By Richard MacTough 

Staff Writer 

 

Private prisons are dangerous to the criminal justice system. It was created for profit between the 1970’s and 1980s. Corporations are now paying less and making more money off the free labor of inmates.  Fast food restaurants such as Wendy’s and McDonald’s get beef patties processed from prison labor. The justice system must have a primary goal of rehabilitating the incarcerated, instead of getting free labor or often described as “modern slavery.”

Leaders of the government have exploited tough on crime laws and the war on drugs. President Donald Trump said during his campaign he is “a law and order” candidate.  There was rapid increases in conviction rates starting in the Nixon era. It is considered more serious than even rape according to sentencing differences.

Marijuana arrests were accounted 13.6 percent more than the 505,681 arrests made for all violent crimes, including murder, rape and serious assaults in 2015. Possession of marijuana has yet proven dangerous by a direct cause. The evidence consists of correlation studies which really means it is associated with various behaviors.

Politicians exploit weak studies and leads to the overcrowding of prisons. The privatization of prisons is an excuse to create free market solutions. Overcrowding has allowed inmates to more likely be placed by for profit institutions.

Rehabilitation should include real work skills encouraged to decrease recidivism rates. Making processed meat for burgers is not a trade. It will not lead to a decent paying job and is only a new way to outsource jobs without paying employees. With less crimes to commit prison corporations lose money. It becomes a problem in the interest of restoring convicts to society.

If nonviolent drug crimes are decriminalized or decreases punishment, corporations lose money. Lobbyist working in the interest of private prisons buy the government influencing them to make bad decisions in the interest of the American people.  The juvenile system was implemented to have a broader emphasis on the purpose to rehabilitee young offenders. Young inmates are forced into free labor and taken away the right of becoming a valuable member of society. They have not fully developed or matured to understand fully the damage of their actions to themselves and victims.

Programs must focus on benefiting convicted minors. Rehabilitation is much more successful, and there will be lower recidivism rates if the government properly serve the young. Juvenile facilities are a tragic symbol of the failing education system.

Minors are discouraged from having a real future in a crony capitalist society looking for a select few of billionaires to profit with greed and tax breaks.  The United States is doing a disservice in rewarding corporations with tax breaks and allowing them to avoid taxes by having their business taxed in a different country. They get to live the very limited American “dream.”

Corporations are profiting off the free market using the new slavery. The constitution decided slavery was inhumane and men of every skin color should truly be created equal.  Federal and local prisons rely on hardworking Americans tax dollars to pay for the cost of inmates.

With high offenses, corporations are taking advantage of law abiding citizens using their money to cover more of the costs. If drug crimes were improved to minimize it as a serious offense, constituents of the country invest less into prison.

There would be more money to improve education, health care and rebuild social security.   The Corrections Corporation of America was the first private prison to file an IPO. It was a document implemented by the SEC created after the stock market crash in 1929, also known as the great depression.

In the report from 1986, the company received an accumulated deficit of over five million dollars.  They look to contract prisons as private enterprises instead of as a government function.   The business model is dependent on active participants of free labor. Businesses have benefited from slavery back to the 1700’s. After the reconstruction era, businessman continue to manipulate the freedom of American citizens.

Hundreds of years of socioeconomic status has taught the very rich it is fine to cheat and manipulate the middle and working class citizens. They are willing to use prisons as a new and accepted form of slavery.

Email Richard at:

rmactough@live.esu.edu