#privatized prisons

[rejectingrepublicans]

Republican oligarchs own and/or operate private prison facilities. That’s why the Republican Party spends so much money arresting and jailing every single person they cross paths with. It’s all for profit, the Republican motive for everything.

[vortexanomaly]

slavery never stopped...

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

[daughterofdessalines]

If I ruled the world. I'd free all my sons... #iloveem #idopeneverycellinattica #sendthemtoAfrica

[halfwayhome47]

Judgment 11 Years ago

Billy Bush was recently relieved of his job to put it nicely due to a leaked video/audio of a private discussion he had with Donald Trump re: alleged sexual harassment. Now, you might be wondering what this has to do with convicted felons/former convicts...Plenty. We live in a society that claims to want to rebuild, give people chances, but when it comes down to it the answer is NO. This discussion between Billy Bush and Donald Trump took place 11yrs ago and Billy Bush is being punished for it now. Unfortunately, the reality is this is the reality of a former convict returning to the community only to be met with apathy in general. He/she will struggle and more than likely be unsuccessful reintegrating society for what he/she has done 11yrs ago.

In conclusion, this is why a documentary helping and exposing the reality of individuals wanting to turn their lives around after being released from prison is essential. The doc will lead to broader perspectives, meaningful discussions, and positive change.

[anarcho-smarmyism]

The privatization characteristic of convict has its contemporary parallels, as companies such as CCA and Wackenhut literally run prisons for profit. At the beginning of the twenty.first century, the numerous private prison companies operating in the United States own and operate facilities that hold 91,828 federal and state prisoners. Texas and Oklahoma can claim the number of people in private prisons. But New Mexico imprisons forty-four percent of its prison population in private facilities, and states such as Montana, Alaska, and Wyoming turned over more than twenty-five percent of their prison population to private companies. In arrangements reminiscent of the convict lease system, federal, state, and county governments pay private companies a fee for each inmate, which means that private companies have a stake in retaining prisoners as long as possible, and in their facilities filled... Though private prisons represent a fairly small proportion of prisons in the United States, the privatization model is quickly becoming the primary mode of organizing punishment in many other countries. These companies have tried to take advantage of the expanding population of women prisoners, both in the United States and globally. In 1996, the first private women's prison was established by CCA in Melbourne, Australia. The government of Victoria "adopted the U.S. model of privatization in which financing, design, construction, and ownership of the prison are awarded to one contractor and the government pays them back for construction over twenty years. This means that it is virtually impossible to remove the contractor because that contractor owns the prison."

Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis

[vortexanomaly]

Private Prison Companies Pivot to Open Rehab Facilities...

In recent years, private prison companies have quietly been striking deals to handle correctional care beyond prisons and detention centers, adapting to changing opinions about mass incarceration. For decades, private prison companies have made billions in revenue, operating correctional and detention facilities on the behalf of overburdened states; last year, the combined revenue for CCA and GEO exceeded $3.5 billion. But nationwide efforts to scale back mass incarceration and cut down on harsh sentencing have posed problems to private corporations' revenue models. Corporations like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and GEO Group, whose businesses had been largely dependent on putting and keeping people behind bars, have diversified and now include the treatment and care of those within the criminal justice system — but not necessarily locked up in its cells. That means private contracts for out-of-jail services like "probation and parole services, halfway houses, day reporting centers, drug and alcohol treatment programs, home confinement, electronic monitoring, and various supportive services such as educational classes and job training," Arjun Sethi, who teaches law at Georgetown University, and Cate Graziani, a mental health campaign coordinator at a national non-profit that studies private prisons, wrote in Politico. Researchers who have studied the transition call it the "treatment industrial complex." Activists worry about the incentives of corrections companies "whose bottom line depends on the growth of supervised populations, rather than their rehabilitation and treatment," Sethi and Graziani wrote. "As state governments work to reduce prison populations by creating alternatives to incarceration, the private prison industry is rebranding itself and taking over treatment alternatives," Bob Libal, executive director of Grassroots Leadership, said in a statement. Grassroots Leaderships released a report on private operation of mental health facilities back in March. As private prison companies move to adapt,* *researchers point to private corporations' sketchy record of handling the care and safety of inmates housed in their prisons to discredit claims that they are well-positioned to transition into treatment and care providers. There have already been lawsuits brought by prisoners against private care providers in New York, and calls for federal intervention after a gruesome Florida case involving a mentally ill man who died after allegedly being left in a scalding bathtub for hours. As Sethi and Graziani note in Politico, these are just some of the complaints "now proliferating regarding [private prison companies'] treatment and rehabilitation programs." [+]

[salon]

5 grim facts about America

A House Bill Would View Corporate Crimes as ‘Honest Mistakes’

Unpaid Taxes of 500 Companies Could Pay for a Job for Every Unemployed American

Almost 2/3 of American Families Couldn’t Afford a Single Pill of a Life-Saving Drug

Violent Crime Down, Prison Population Doubles

One in Four Americans Suffer Mental Illness, Mental Health Facilities Cut by 90%

Here’s the whole story behind each list item...