For Profit Caging of America: The Prison Industrial Complex

The Prison industrial Complex With more and more studies revealing how private prisons don't save public money, the for-profit caging of America is clearly little more than a growing outlet of corporate greed. Take a look at the current state of the private prison system, and see why our criminals are our own problem - not something to be passed off to private interests. - Lock 'Em Up Violent crime is $74 billion: 800,000: on the decline but the incarceration Annual spending on corrections Number of people employed in the corrections industry rate in America has tripled since 1980 Total US prisoners: 2.27 million Over 6 million people are are under some sort of That's I out of every- 100 American adults! "correctional supervision" That's I in every 50 Americans! Official capacity of U.S. prisons: 2.13 million 9.6% Amount of U.S. prisoners serving a life sentence Current occupancy: 106% 211.2% are serving terms longer than 20 years Cuiture Of kncarceration Top nations of incarceration, by number of inmates per 100,000 citizens USA: 730 St. Kitts and Nevis: 649 Virgin Islands (USA): 539 Seychelles: 535 Rwanda: 527 Georgia: 524 Cuba: 510 Russian Federation: 508 Anguilla (UK): 480 Virgin Islands (UK): 460 And China, whose human rights violations we constantly criticize? Ranked 124th China: 121 Prisonvilie, USA Louisiana's incarceration rate is 3x Tin every 86 adults higher than Iran's Tin every 14 African Americans Private prisons in the The prison population has state control a $182 mil market doubled over the past 20 years Limit the supply of inmates, and these operations go under Letting Someone Else Deal With Our Problems 128,195: 350%: Many private prison operators require states to keep their prisons Increase in the private prison industry for the past 15 years 90% fll Number of inmates housed in private facilities as of Dec. 2010 It's now a for at least $70 bil 20 years That's About 10% of the total prison population market Puts undue pressure on the justice system to increase sentencing and incarceration lengths - it has to be a sweet deal for the private prisons operatorsLengthy prison terms for minor offences turn petty thieves mo hardened criminals, into doing nothing to make our streets safer kieffective Solution Arizona's penal plight Daily per capita adjusted expenses of medium custody beds Daily per capita adjusted expenses of minimum custody beds State prison: Private prison: State prison: Private prison: $48.42 $53.02 $46.59 $46.56 To top it off, most contracts include a health clause, ensuring that the state must deal with the least healthy inmates Top Offenders Corrections Corporation of America $1.7 billion: Total revenue in 2011 $17.4 million: Total spending on lobbying over the past 10 years $1.9 million: Political contributions between 2003 and 2012 $3.7 million: CEO compensation in 2011 66: Number of prisons they operate 91,000: Total number of beds available in their facilities The Geo Group, Inc. $1.6 billion: Total revenue in 2011 $2.5 million: Total spending on lobbying over the past 8 years $2.9 million: Political contributions between 2003 and $5.7 million: Ceo compensation in 2011 65: Number of prisons they operate 65,716: Total number of beds available in their facilities With revenues that high, it's no doubt these corporations have little interest in reforming criminals or penal law - they're profiting immensely from it! Don't expect drug law reform any time soon - that's where most of their revenue comes from! Percentage of Incarcerated Americans 1.0% .9% .8% .7% 1984: Sentencing Reform Act .6% .5% 1971: Richard Nixon declares "War on Drugs" .4% .3% .2% .1% 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 "Giadiator School" Nickname given to one CCA youth prison in Idaho due to incredibly high levels of violence One inmate was beaten so badly, he now suffers from Prison staff refused to tell the prisoner's permanent brain damage father where his son was for the 6-weeks he was being treated in a hospital Said one judge: conditions in for-profit prisons are "a picture of such horror as should be unrealized anywhere in the civilized world" SOURCES: http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/01/26/us-number-aging-prisoners-soaring http://www.cnbc.com/id/44762286/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-w-whitehead/prison-privatization_b_1414467.html http://www.prisonstudies.org/info/worldbrief/wpb_stats.php?area=all&category=wb_poprate http://www.infowars.com/thanks-to-for-profit-prisons-louisiana-has-triple-the-incarceration-rate-of-iran/ http://www.businessinsider.com/the-private-prison-business-2012-3 http://www.aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights-womens-rights-immigrants-rights/say-no-profit-prisons http://whowhatwhy.com/2012/05/01/briefing-for-profit-prisons/ http://www.azcorrections.gov/adc/reports/ADC_FY2010_PerCapitaRep.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_incarceration_rate_timeline.gif http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/06/prison-profit-industry-corporation-money-jail http://www.aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights-criminal-law-reform/picture-such-horror-should-be-unrealized-anywhere