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For-Profit Prisons: Eight Statistics That Show the Problems

Should Corporate/Privatized prisons be outlawed?


  • Total voters
    34
  • Poll closed .
Lets see, you say the private correction facilities have power over law makers who make the laws and set sentences. Are you serious

From your site.

"The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by the

relaxation of enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction or parole standards and
sentencing practices or through the decriminalization of certain activities that are
currently proscribed by our criminal laws. For instance, any changes with respect

to drugs and controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number
of persons arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing
demand for correctional facilities to house them. Legislation has been proposed in

numerous jurisdictions that could lower minimum sentences for some non-

violent crimes and make more inmates eligible for early release based on good behavior.

Also, sentencing alternatives under consideration could put some offenders on

probation with electronic monitoring who would otherwise be incarcerated.
Similarly, reductions in crime rates or resources dedicated to prevent and enforce

crime could lead to reductions in arrests, convictions and
sentences requiring incarceration at correctional facilities.

~ CORRECTIONS CORPORATION OF AMERICA 2010 ANNUAL REPORT

What on earth are you talking about? That's an internal report from a private prison company basically stating that reduced sentences, increased use of electronic monitoring and drug decriminalization, among other things, would lessen demand for their "product." Nowhere does that talk about the lobbying efforts by said private prison companies, which are detailed in the pdf I linked to.

Are claiming that the private prison companies don't lobby for harsher sentencing and against things like decriminalization of drugs?
 
The private prison lobby has a vested interest in supporting candidates who will vote for laws that funnel more people into their incarceration mills.

yes. it rarely comes up in the campaign, but the lobbiests know whom to back.
 
Read Part 6 "recommendations" and show me where it says that private correction facilities do anything except run prisons.

Did you skip over the entire report until the end or something?
 
yes. it rarely comes up in the campaign, but the lobbiests know whom to back.

And just who would these lobbyist be? And how much power do they have to get anyone elected. I suggest you provide proof that private correction facilities lobby to get stricter laws so that the prison population grows so to force building of more prisons to make more money.

I don't have a damn thing to do with a private prison company but I sure want stricter laws for some crimes and I'm for the death penalty which takes people out of the prison system. I would bet you are against the death penalty and therefore support more prison time.
 
Did you skip over the entire report until the end or something?

I read part 6, "Recommendations" you said it summarizes it nicely. I read nothing in the Recommendations that said anything other then the companies are running prisons.

I guess all the other stuff they may have listed really didn't mean anything as they did not speak of it in their "Recommendations".

Now do you have any other proof that private correction companies have power to alter laws, power over judges, power over juries, power over law makers, etc etc. Maybe you can point to me where the Private companies have advertised for stiffer laws so the taxpayer can build more prisons.

In fact I like Obama's policy "take no prisoners, kill them"
 
I read part 6, "Recommendations" you said it summarizes it nicely. I read nothing in the Recommendations that said anything other then the companies are running prisons.

I guess all the other stuff they may have listed really didn't mean anything as they did not speak of it in their "Recommendations".

Now do you have any other proof that private correction companies have power to alter laws, power over judges, power over juries, power over law makers, etc etc. Maybe you can point to me where the Private companies have advertised for stiffer laws so the taxpayer can build more prisons.

Read. The. ****ing. Report.
 
For-Profit Prisons: Eight Statistics That Show the Problems

For-Profit Prisons: Eight Statistics That Show the Problems

For-Profit Prisons: Eight Statistics That Show the Problems

"As private prisons become the norm in the United States, it's time society takes a look at the institution and asks, "Are prisons really being used as rehabilitation/deterrence for crime, or have private interests started attaching price tags to lawbreakers’ heads and exploited their incarceration for profit?"
Here are several key statistics that paint an ugly, troubling picture of the for-profit prison system in America:
500% Increase
The biggest private prison owner in America, The Corrections Corporation of America, has seen its profits increase by more than 500% in the past 20 years. Moreover, the business’ growth shows no sign of stopping, having already approached 48 states to take over government-run prisons.
10-60 Pounds Lighter
One way for-profit prisons to minimize costs is by skimping on provisions, including food. A psychiatrist who investigated a privately run prison in Mississippi found that the inmates were severely underfed and looked “almost emaciated.” During their incarceration, prisoners dropped anywhere from 10 to 60 pounds.
100%
100% of all military helmets, ID tags, bullet-proof vests and canteens are created in federal prison systems through prison labor. Though prisoners are “generously” compensated cents per hour, it’s clear having this inexpensive, exploited labor force is critical to the military industrial complex. I bet that the irony that mostly non-violent offenders are making war gear for others to perpetuate violence abroad without consequence is not lost on many of the inmates.
90% Occupancy
States sign agreements with private prisons to guarantee that they will fill a certain number of beds in jail at any given point. The most common rate is 90%, though some prisons are able to snag a 100% promise from their local governments. Because of these contracts, the state is obligated to keep prisons almost full at all times or pay for the beds anyway, so the incentive is to incarcerate more people and for longer in order to fill the quota.
25%
One in every four people that is incarcerated worldwide is held captive in a United States jail. How is it that a country with only 5% of the world’s population has 25% of all the inmates? Simple: prisoners are source of revenue for private companies, so the demand for incarcerating them is especially high.
11 Times
Corrections and law enforcement duties should not be outsourced, no private company should have the authority to detain and arrest anyone or have any law enforcement capabilities.

Violent crimes are down overall, so how does the United States keep prisons stocked instead? Amplifying the war on drugs: there are now 11 times as many people in jail for drug convictions than there were in 1980, constituting 50% of the prison population. Longer mandatory minimum sentences also keeps the inmates in longer. Most people incarcerated for drug charges are non-violent, have no prior record, and are addicts rather than major drug-traffickers.
50%
Has it occurred to you that the reason for the high prison population is because these violent criminals are behind bars?

Nearly half of all detained immigrants are held in privately owned facilities. The fact that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has stepped up its game to detain more undocumented immigrants – about 400,000 each year – has actually increased the need for private systems as most detainees will linger in the system waiting for court dates for months if not years.
Civil rights groups have deemed the quality of care provided in immigrant detention centers unacceptable, particularly because of the large numbers of preventable fatalities and sexual assaults.
$45 million

Those who are here illegally should go to jail/prison.Illegal immigration is something that should be discouraged.That means throwing those who are caught here illegal into jail before deporting them.I would like to see the scum who aid and or employ illegals also thrown into jail and subject to asset seizure and forfeiture laws.

The three largest for-profit prison corporations have spent more than $45 million on campaign donations and lobbyists to keep politicians on the side of privatized incarceration. In light of all of their ethical violations, it’s obvious that they have to offer some incentive for keeping their business legal."

25% of World's prison population in USA jails. WOW!
50% of prison population drug users.
Is there something wrong with this picture.
It seems like a conflict of interest for law enforcement to guarantee occupancy.
Why are there so many prisoners in US jails. Is it about profit.
Drug and immigrant enforcement will be good for jail business.

I think those numbers are a sign that our justice system is good at catching and prosecuting criminals.
 
And just who would these lobbyist be? And how much power do they have to get anyone elected. I suggest you provide proof that private correction facilities lobby to get stricter laws so that the prison population grows so to force building of more prisons to make more money.

I don't have a damn thing to do with a private prison company but I sure want stricter laws for some crimes and I'm for the death penalty which takes people out of the prison system. I would bet you are against the death penalty and therefore support more prison time.
granted, mine was an overly broad statement.

Use 'the google'
Meet the Private Prison Lobby » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

mostly the private prisons themselves lobby Congress ( see near bottom of article).

re: death penalty: everyone always thinks I'm some sort of wild liberal on messagebords. I am a memberof the ACLU
-the only organization I belong to since it defends the BORights from all attacks on all ideologys.

I'd say read the 8th Amendment on Cruel and unusual punishment -i'm pretty much of an Originalist (Original Intent), if that helps.
 
granted, mine was an overly broad statement.

Use 'the google'
Meet the Private Prison Lobby » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

mostly the private prisons themselves lobby Congress ( see near bottom of article).

Now it's all about immigration, I'm all for locking up those that break our laws and kicking their ass out of the country. Good for them, I would like to join them in any effort to lock up those that break our laws. And I could care who runs the prisons.

re: death penalty: everyone always thinks I'm some sort of wild liberal on messagebords. I am a memberof the ACLU
-the only organization I belong to since it defends the BORights from all attacks on all ideologys.

Let me ask you, are you for the death penalty or not?

I'd say read the 8th Amendment on Cruel and unusual punishment -i'm pretty much of an Originalist (Original Intent), if that helps.

Cruel and unusual punishment has nothing to do with private run prisons. Period. If a private run prison is not run in accordance with the approved policies and procedures they should be held accountable. Our military is surly no better at running prisons. Does Abu Ghraib come to mind.
 
Got it you have none.

So if it's not in the "Recommendations" section at the end, it doesn't exist? READ. THE. ****ING. REPORT.

The idea that you're somehow denying that the private prison lobby would actually, yanno, lobby for policies in its favor when it's right there in the report is beyond me. It's like you're trying to be as intellectually dishonest as humanly possible.
 
Tell me again what does the law and a person getting two years in prison have to do with who runs it.

I guess you would be OK with a kid getting two years in prison for stealing a pack of gum if the prison was government run.

"The law" has a financial incentive to give those kids two years for a pack of gum due to for-profit prisons.
 
Corrections and law enforcement duties should not be outsourced, no private company should have the authority to detain and arrest anyone or have any law enforcement capabilities.


Has it occurred to you that the reason for the high prison population is because these violent criminals are behind bars?



Those who are here illegally should go to jail/prison.Illegal immigration is something that should be discouraged.That means throwing those who are caught here illegal into jail before deporting them.I would like to see the scum who aid and or employ illegals also thrown into jail and subject to asset seizure and forfeiture laws.



I think those numbers are a sign that our justice system is good at catching and prosecuting criminals.
Yes, authoritarians would think that.
 
what does a corporate run prison have to do with the population of our prisons?

It may have a lot to do with why drugs, even relatively harmless ones, are illegal. It may have a lot to do with immigration enforcement. Makes lots of laws that keep the prisons profitable by keeping them at full occupancy.
 
Sentences are driven by for-profit prisons how?

Judges that get paid off. Was a big story... a few judges made tons of money giving stiffer sentences and were caught.
 
Tell me again what does the law and a person getting two years in prison have to do with who runs it.

I guess you would be OK with a kid getting two years in prison for stealing a pack of gum if the prison was government run.

Think before you write... judges give out the sentence... the most stiff penalties were the judge decides the punishment, not the criminal code. That is what was so shocking and why they got caught, eventually, after years, perhaps decades, of screwing over kids and families. But go ahead and make some more idiotic assumptions like a simpleton twat would, if you like.
 
90% Occupancy
States sign agreements with private prisons to guarantee that they will fill a certain number of beds in jail at any given point. The most common rate is 90%, though some prisons are able to snag a 100% promise from their local governments. Because of these contracts, the state is obligated to keep prisons almost full at all times or pay for the beds anyway, so the incentive is to incarcerate more people and for longer in order to fill the quota.

I don't like private prisons either, but I'm going to call you on this one. Unless the local/state government or criminal court judges get a kickback from private prisons for occupancy, there's no added incentive to send people to prison just to fill the space. You pay for state prisons whether they're full up or not, it makes sense that the same would be true of private prisons.
 
I don't like private prisons either, but I'm going to call you on this one. Unless the local/state government or criminal court judges get a kickback from private prisons for occupancy, there's no added incentive to send people to prison just to fill the space. You pay for state prisons whether they're full up or not, it makes sense that the same would be true of private prisons.

Kids for cash scandal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

I do recall reading something about this, and that is criminal activity that absolutely positively should be punished, as it was in this case.

I'm just saying the sole fact of having to pay for beds whether or not they are occupied is not in and of itself an incentive to sentence people to prison.

Again, I'm saying this as someone who is not a fan of private prisons -- I'll also throw out there that I'm not a fan of the American justice system in general. I just didn't think that objection was particularly valid.
 
I do recall reading something about this, and that is criminal activity that absolutely positively should be punished, as it was in this case.

I'm just saying the sole fact of having to pay for beds whether or not they are occupied is not in and of itself an incentive to sentence people to prison.

Again, I'm saying this as someone who is not a fan of private prisons -- I'll also throw out there that I'm not a fan of the American justice system in general. I just didn't think that objection was particularly valid.

Fair enough; I would say those beds often get filled because the private prison lobby actively pushes for harsher sentencing and continued criminalization of drugs.
 
I don't like private prisons either, but I'm going to call you on this one. Unless the local/state government or criminal court judges get a kickback from private prisons for occupancy, there's no added incentive to send people to prison just to fill the space. You pay for state prisons whether they're full up or not, it makes sense that the same would be true of private prisons.

Of course, if you can make more laws making more things illegal, you will have more prisoners and keep all the prisons full. Good Corporate marketing entails getting more laws and harsher sentences passed. You do recognize the problem if they are not full up because as a business that leads to bankruptcy. Ergo, have your lobbyists pay legislators to get more laws passed and sentences extended. Even local jails fight to get Federal prisoners because it pays so good.
 
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