Comments on: Powerful Private Prison Profits

By: Brent

Brent — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 04:30:30 +0000

This is exactly what conservatives want. They want to privatize everything in sight from Medicare to prisons to Veteran’s Affairs. Too bad that the companies don’t care about doing what they are supposed to be doing, it’s all about the money.

By: Xman

Xman — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 16:04:18 +0000

The Horror, the horror!
The average educational level of a u.s. prisoner is 3rd grade. He may have attended and graduated higher grades, but upon entry every prisoner (I refuse to say “inmate”, in my mind, it somehow seems to legitimize a corrupt system) is tested. The average prisoner is found to have an education at the 3rd grade level.

20% of prisons buy food and other supplies on the spot market. Meaning, expired or near expiration date. It also may mean substandard due to improper formulation. Food is tasted at a plant. If it is found to be of substandard taste…like too salty, it is packaged anyway and sold to people who buy that sort of thing….like prisons, where buyers are on the take (like her in Oregon lately). Prisons like the low prices because it makes them look like good executives. Prisoners voices are not heard…because who wants to listen to a crook? Whiney little creeps.

So now we have private prisons, where prisoners will be taken from california where thewy have at least some voice through law and advocacy and send them to profit driven, closed systems.

It is no surprise to me that they can convince a 3rd grader to their way of thinking, either through argument or coersion.

Their cells sure look like a Beverley Hilton lifestyle to me…not.

By: JoeC

JoeC — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 13:48:09 +0000

Tom: You mentioned voting…I think THOSE are laws that need to be revisited. The majority of inmates are low-income minorities, and although state laws vary, most have their right to vote taken away…some permanently, even after they do their time. When you have a means to remove the right to vote from a good percentage (2 - 7 million) of the population, there’s a motive for making laws tougher that will disproportionately affect poor minorities.

We were all proud in the 1980s when we got tough on crime–specifically drug offenders. Now, the prison system is engorged with a bunch of non-dealer marijuana smokers doing heavy time while others whose threat to society is much greater, are out on parole in much less time. As I mentioned in a previous post, speeding on the highway is still a crime, but the criminals get a ticket…they don’t get locked away for 10 years at a cost to taxpayers of $40,000 per convict. I think the laws and sentencing need to get rebalanced in proportion with the crime…but I doubt if the private prison companies want to see any reduction in sentencing, because more prisoners = more money for them.

P.S. I haven’t had my first cup of coffee yet this morning, so apologies if that was hard to follow…it was hard for me to follow, too…hope it made a little sense ;-)

By: tom rogers

tom rogers — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 13:04:57 +0000

“And therein lies the true reason such a high percentage of the U.S. population is incarcerated: it makes money.”

Lemme see if I got this right; we COULD have the non-violent low risk offenders working, rehabbing, etc., thus being a productive(non-voting) person, but since incarceration means money going to an enterprise that can more directly funnel a portion of those funds to me and my party brethren, well, (chest swells) “I am truly tough on crime!”