Private Prisons Love Mass Incarceration, And Want Politicians To Love It Too
Ryan J. Reilly
Employees of the for-profit prison company GEO Group.
Read More
Private prison companies have helped fuel government policies which lead to an increase in prison population and boost their profits, according to a recent report.
The private prison population has grown 353.7 percent in the past 15 years, according to a study by the Justice Policy Institute. Major private prison companies have an incentive to encourage policies which keep that number on the rise.
"Steady increases in the number of people in private prisons, especially those coming from federally contracted beds, translate into increased revenues for private prison companies," the report says.
"Since private prison companies are in the business to make money, policies that maintain or increase incarceration boost their revenues; from a business perspective, the economic and social costs of mass incarceration are 'externalities' that aren't figured into their corporate bottom line," it says.
Some of the biggest names in the private prison industry have given $835,514 to federal candidates since 2000 and a stunning $6,092,331 to state politicians in the last five elections cycles, according to data in the report.
"A lot of it is focused on the state level because a lot of the people in prison are in state facilities," Paul Ashton, an author of the report, told TPM.
"With most states and the federal government operating under record deficits and decreasing budgets, private prison companies have a growing desire to establish influential connections with policymakers, with two goals: pitching private prisons as a lower cost alternative to building or maintaining state facilities; and fighting policies that might reduce the use of incarceration," the report states.
The report also points to the revolving door between the private prison companies and the government agencies that have a say in their spending.
One recent example: Harley Lappin, who retired as head of the Bureau of Prisons after he was arrested for drunk driving, was recently named the chief corrections officer at the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest provider of private prisons to federal, state and local government. Lappin said in a press release announcing his new position that the company "has an outstanding track record of working well with its government partners as they strive to set the highest standards in the administration of a correctional system."
Comment
"Destroying the New World Order"
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!
Latest Activity
- Top News
- Everything
"This screenshot is from a book found by a blogger in his research and gives an eye witnessed…"
The Hunt - Official Trailer [HD]
"A former ANTIFA member was interviewed here recently and this would not be far from actual reality…"
Legacy of Supposedly Inferior Aircraft Outmatching Their Enemies
We think of the Korean War aerial combat as the classic dogfights between the American F-86 Sabre…See More
"This is just another form of a feudal globalism dictated by corporate technocrats bragging about…"
What is Area 2 and What Goes on There?
We have all heard of Area 51 and S-4, along with such terms as Water Town, Papoose Lake,…See More
STRANGE THINGS HAPPENING IN YELLOWSTONE
It’s not the fact that Yellowstone National Park sits atop a super volcano that hasn’t erupted in…See More
Austrian police raid house of man who leaked Israeli ambassador video making genocidal comments
In a new ITV documentary, Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War, former Israeli soldiers describe how Gaza civilians were killed, often without warning, in an ...
WARHAMMER 40,000 | 1980's GRIMDARK MOVIE
WARHAMMER 40,000 | 1980's GRIMDARK MOVIEThis is a Concept Movie Trailer made with the help of AI. This video is created purely for fun and out of curiosity a...
"Tavistock Timing"
The Ringside View
Down in the streets where the animals meetWhere tear gas flies and people get beatWhere…See More
© 2025 Created by truth.
Powered by
You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!
Join 12160 Social Network