The Prison System: Not Really A Drain On State Economies

Dang Daniel, good article. Recently, while the Texas Legislature was in session there were no less than 9 lobbyists for the privatized prison system in Austin, Texas. The Texas Judicial system is a mass of corruption and the prison system is a big part of it. There is a group online called T.I.M.E. Newsvine has one of it's members as a participant. DeadManWalking. She has access to some frightfully pertinent information about the Private Prison Industry and a group that lobby's for stiffer laws that the privatized prisons influence heavily. ALEC. That is where the Three Strikes laws and mandatory minimums come from. They even have advice on how people can lobby their local governments into passing more and more and stricter and stricter sentencing. It is being driven by privatized prisons. Dick Cheney is heavily invested in privatized prison stocks. Prisons are abusive anyway, is it any wonder that Cheney thinks nothing of torture? BTW. I believe Gitmo is also a privatized prison - GEO.

In Texas, inmate workers in those prison factories make nothing. Absolutely nothing. How can the private sector compete with that? Seems I remember a time that same complaint was made about China and their prison labor. Now look what we do.

Another reason for laws that imprison people is to take away thier right to vote.

The only things that Drug Prohibition has prohibited is reasonable regulation of drugs and the drug war victim's right to vote.

hopefully some day we will learn

There is restrictions on what prisoners can produce isn't there? I was under the impression prisoners are not to be used as slave labor for profit

Good article, Daniel. I wish more people would stop and think about this. In the U.S., about one out of every hundred adults are in jail at any time, even though the violent crime rate has dropped steadily for twenty years. Of course, the stats are even nastier if you start looking at demographics: 1 in 36 Hispanic adults are behind bars, one in 15 black adults, etc. Given the drop in violent crime, one has to wonder why so many of us are "criminals". Victimless "crimes" and mandatory minimum sentencing are the answer, and as you imply above, it's not as if these policies are making us safer, they're just going to line the pockets of corrupt governments and corporations. And we the people sit quietly by, just feeling thankful that it's not us, that it's someone who could never be us, some mysterious "other".

But of course, it could be us, easily, because so many of these crimes shouldn't be crimes in the first place. The only way it stops is if the people actively demand a more sane system, and then watch carefully to make sure it is implemented.

Great article.....

Great Article

I have know of this form quite some time and have even joined a group here on NV called TIME. More people need to know about the wrong doings by our prison systems, private prisons and ALEC which influences the political side of things to help the prison industry.

Really, really, good article.

You might find this interesting ALEC, America's Trojan Horse . Not only do private prison corporations profit from keeping people incarcerated, they also get to work with legislators to write the laws that lock us up. ALEC committees are responsible for such charmers as the 3 Strikes Law as well as the Truth in Sentencing Act. For a price, corporate execs get to sit at the table with our legislators and write our laws. If that doesn't scare or sicken people then there is more wrong with our society than what I thought.

Again, compliments on an excellent job!

Excellent article, Daniel, and very telling that not more people have responded to this issue. The truth of the matter is that society in general doesn't care..........until somebody in their family actually has to deal with it.

I've not ever been one for "Party" bashing, having honestly felt, that at the end of the day, Churchill said it best by quipping: "I'm eternally grateful for the existence of Politicians, for without them, how would we know whom the Statesmen were?..."

However, after scanning over the rolls of membership among the ALEC leadership, a HUGE percentage seems to be Republican-and that doesn't look either Jeffersonian OR Conservative to me.

It's bad enough to use emotional manipulation to get the Voters to "sign on" to "get tough on crime" legislation, without any checks or balances to access to true cost and outcome of same. But these folks are sliding it in the "back door" on us and telling each other they're heros and patriots for having done so. (...on their way to the bank, of course...)

What would happen if TOTAL REAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE became possible AND MANDATORY for these people and the interests they serve? My guess is they'd get a firsthand opportunity to enjoy the "fruits of their labor".

Here's an idea to help relieve the over running population in prisons in the US.

The government will randomly select a prison every week and select ten random prisoners with a minimal sentence or long term if you would like, in minimum security and place them in randomly selected houses within a certain range of a percentage of income to make sure they will be able to support the inmate and have it as a deductible towards tax season or some sort of incentive to make people want to consider this option. Make sure the inmate finds work as a work release program and instead of money being paid, they can work towards their complete freedom. Who knows? It could work, but then again, when have ideas like this came of any good from the government?

I would be in favor of bidding our prisons out to countries all over the world. Lowest bidder gets them.

DAs and the cops love to concoct as many charges as they can from a single action by a "perp" (no longer a "suspect" - no longer "innocent until proven guilty")

The suspect then has a choice.

1) "Do the numbers" - add the total time attached to the charges. Then accept a plea for 10% or less of the "time"

2) Fight the charges after the press has gleefully plastered them all over the place. One has to know that TV programs also stack the deck. The CSI series has fostered the false idea that any and every crime lab is infallible. Even the FBI labs in Washington D.C. have been proved to ignore, misinterpret and even down right falsify outcomes to aid prosecution. When was the last time a "bad" cop was portrayed? Hollywood loves to give the idea that the police look for every possible person in every case. The cops find a suspect. That suspect must prove they were not present - the alibi. How many of you can tell me where you were at 3 PM three months ago today? You can guess. You can assume you were on your regular routine but can you PROVE it?

3) Face the prejudice in the court system. A white guy is charged with cocaine use. A black guy is charged with possession of crack cocaine. Who gets more time???

The prison system is a BUSINESS.

Victimless 'crime'...the concept that people should be locked up not for causing any harm to others, but for engaging in activities that some people don't like.

end the drug war NOW!!!