Private Prisons In U.S.
Private Prisons are one of the problems most people don’t even bother to think about or realize what it is at all! These certain prisons are not secure, they’re unclean, nasty, and disgusting facilities, and provide poor health care. Private prisons have neither shown us in statistics that they are cheaper or more effective than state prisons. In fact they raise incarceration rates even when the U.S. is ranked #1! Why? These corporations who run these private prisons are actually making money by imprisoning people. Private prisons are prisons that are totally managed in secrecy by corporations or companies. Definitely private prisons can affect our society in a very harmful way.
These private prisons are really nasty, gross, and very unsanitary. Former ACLU attorney Will Harrell inspected one GEO group run facility (private prison) and his descriptions were, “ There was an infestation of insects everywhere you looked, including the kitchen. Insects in the food. It was horrible.”(Segura 2013) Donald Weeks who spent 10 months in jail said, “ The stench was so bad in there, I couldn’t eat anymore.” (Segura 2013) That’s just not fair to the prisoners, how they’re being treated like animals. And yet these private prisons still exist in the world.
Besides from that, private prisons have a horrible security system. “The private prison had inadequate patrols and prisoner movement, excessive false alarms, a lax culture, and inconsistencies in visitor screening procedures.”(Wikipedia.org 2013). They do that just to save money when these corporations are earning billions yearly. This is a big problem because there’s a bigger chance that violent inmates can escape.
Certainly medical care is a huge problem in these privately ran facilities. Many states had turned to private companies to provide medical care for the prisoners, but these private health companies had neglected and ignored many prisoners. “Prison Health Services, a company responsible for two prisoner deaths in separate jails in upstate New York within two months of one another. In both cases, the inmates had been repeatedly denied medication and accused of faking their distress.” (Segura 2013) Another health care provider, Corizon has its shocking protocols when it comes to Hepatitis C, a virus that destroys they liver, and this disease is common among prisoners. The dreadful procedure is that Corizon does not treat Hepatitis C, in fact they oppose treatment for hepatitis. If you’re sick in one of those places, you’ll mostly receive no protocols or any medical attention.
Undoubtedly prison profiteers do exist, with 2 million people, it’s a big industry. “ ‘It’s like the hotel industry,’ says Alex Friedman, an editor at Prison Legal News, who himself was once incarcerated at a private prison. ‘The hotel industry wants to keep their beds full as much as possible, because it means more revenue. Same thing for the private prison companies.’ ” (Segura 2013) Last year, CCA sent 48 letters to governors volunteering to take the state’s prison system off their hands for 20 years only if the governors can guarantee to keep the facilities up to 90% full, regardless of crime rates. That means passing more harsh and longer sentences, so they can keep these prisons operating with more prisoners. An example of a very alarming decree would be, “The passage in 13 states of the “three strikes” law (life in prison after being convicted of three felonies), made it necessary to build 20 new federal prisons. One of the most disturbing cases resulting from this measure was that of a prisoner who for stealing a car and two bicycles received three 25-year sentences.”(Pelaez 2013) Truly, prison profiteers are trying to get more people in their facilities and keep them there for as long as possible, because the more people sleeping in these prison beds means more money. “A private prison company which runs juvenile facilities, was found guilty of paying two judges $2.6m to send 2000 children to their prisons.”(Wikipedia.org 2013) Even more, “According to California Prison Focus, ‘no other society in human history has imprisoned so many of its own citizens.’ ” (Pelaez2013)
Really, these prison profiteers are making a considerable amount of money, with a prison population of up to 2 million at labor to provide for various industries. “They don’t have to worry about strikes or paying unemployment insurance, vacations or comp time. All of their workers are fulltime and never arrive late or are absent because of family problems; moreover if they don’t like the pay of 25 cents an hour and refuse to work, they are locked up in isolation cells.” (Pelaez 2013) And there’s more, “According to the Left Business Observer, the federal prison industry produces 100% of all military helmets, ammunition belts, bullet proof vests, ID tags, shirts, pants, tents, bags, and canteens. Along with war supplies, prison workers supply 98% of the entire market for equipment assembly services; 93% of paints and paintbrushes; 92% of stove assembly; 46% of body armor; 36% of home appliances; 30% of headphones/microphones/speakers; and 21% of office furniture. Airplane parts, medical supplies, and much more: prisoners are even raising seeing-eye dogs for blind people.” (Pelaez 2013) With these prisoners making all these products for merely only about 25 cents an hour. Is prison labor a new form of slavery?
Surely there are tycoons that invest in prisons like these, “The list of such companies contains the cream of U.S. corporate society: IMB, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Wireless, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq, Honeywell, Hewlett Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom’s, Revlon, Macy’s, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores, and many more. Just between 1980 and 1994, profits went up from 392 million to 1.31 billion.”(Pelaez 2013) Another prison profiteer would be Global Tel* Link a company who profits further than $500 million yearly; taking advantages of prisoner’s family, whom have to face to choose from paying ridiculous phone rates to stay in touch with their imprisoned loved one, or just relinquish on regular calls. GTL gains the contract by bidding a higher kickback (commission). “The higher a kickback, in other words, the more likely a company is to win the contract.”(Pelaez 2013) These high commission converts to sky-high phone rates for families- up to $1.13 per minute.
Specifically, private prisons do exist because of the idea that states can save money by turning to private prisons. “However, state-funded studies have found that private prisons keep only low cost inmates and send others back to state run prisons.”(Wikipedia.org 2013) Furthermore, “Evidence has shown that private prisons are neither demonstrably more cost-effect, nor more efficient than public prisons. A study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics found that the cost-savings promised by private prisons ‘have simply not materialized’ ” (Wikipedia.org 2013) “As Alex Friedman has pointed out, 'the private prison industry operates in secrecy while being funded almost entirely with public taxpayer money.’ In September, Bloomberg reported that ‘the federal government provided almost 43% of [CCA’s] $1.76 billion of revenue in 2012, according to its annual report.”(Segura 2013) While CCA is being funded with all that money, they still don’t have enough to support their prisoner’s basic needs? Moreover, I really don’t think the government should give handouts to private prisons because they’re operating in secrecy but is being funded with public taxpayer money, it isn’t fair because we’re the taxpayers, we should know what’s on with these private prisons.
Ultimately, I felt I should inform people about this topic because I think people have the rights to know what’s going on. I truly think prison is a place where they discipline people for their misdeeds. However, incarceration is being treated as a business for prison profiteers and we need to stop that. In fact, we need to kick private facilities out of our prison system. Besides from this being a business, private prisons also treat prisoners very inhumanly. Seriously, prisoners are humans too. You might think prisoners are murderers and stuff like that, but to be honest, they’re not. Mainly prisoners who got locked up are charged with non-violent crimes. With all these corprations and companies wanting more people confined to their facilities, and even passing inconsiderate decrees. It’s not a mystery why crime rates are going down but the prison population going up. In conclusion, private prisons do really create negative influence to our society.
Works Cited
Segura, Liliana. "With 2.3 Million People Incarcerated in the US, Prisons Are Big
Business | The Nation." With 2.3 Million People Incarcerated in the US, Prisons Are Big Business | The Nation. The Nation, 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.
Pelaez, Vicky. "The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of
Slavery?" Globalresearch.ca. Global Research, 8 Dec. 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery>.
"Private Prison." Wikipedia. Wikipedia Foundation, 27 Nov. 2013. Web. 14 Dec. 2013.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_prison>.
Private Prisons are one of the problems most people don’t even bother to think about or realize what it is at all! These certain prisons are not secure, they’re unclean, nasty, and disgusting facilities, and provide poor health care. Private prisons have neither shown us in statistics that they are cheaper or more effective than state prisons. In fact they raise incarceration rates even when the U.S. is ranked #1! Why? These corporations who run these private prisons are actually making money by imprisoning people. Private prisons are prisons that are totally managed in secrecy by corporations or companies. Definitely private prisons can affect our society in a very harmful way.
These private prisons are really nasty, gross, and very unsanitary. Former ACLU attorney Will Harrell inspected one GEO group run facility (private prison) and his descriptions were, “ There was an infestation of insects everywhere you looked, including the kitchen. Insects in the food. It was horrible.”(Segura 2013) Donald Weeks who spent 10 months in jail said, “ The stench was so bad in there, I couldn’t eat anymore.” (Segura 2013) That’s just not fair to the prisoners, how they’re being treated like animals. And yet these private prisons still exist in the world.
Besides from that, private prisons have a horrible security system. “The private prison had inadequate patrols and prisoner movement, excessive false alarms, a lax culture, and inconsistencies in visitor screening procedures.”(Wikipedia.org 2013). They do that just to save money when these corporations are earning billions yearly. This is a big problem because there’s a bigger chance that violent inmates can escape.
Certainly medical care is a huge problem in these privately ran facilities. Many states had turned to private companies to provide medical care for the prisoners, but these private health companies had neglected and ignored many prisoners. “Prison Health Services, a company responsible for two prisoner deaths in separate jails in upstate New York within two months of one another. In both cases, the inmates had been repeatedly denied medication and accused of faking their distress.” (Segura 2013) Another health care provider, Corizon has its shocking protocols when it comes to Hepatitis C, a virus that destroys they liver, and this disease is common among prisoners. The dreadful procedure is that Corizon does not treat Hepatitis C, in fact they oppose treatment for hepatitis. If you’re sick in one of those places, you’ll mostly receive no protocols or any medical attention.
Undoubtedly prison profiteers do exist, with 2 million people, it’s a big industry. “ ‘It’s like the hotel industry,’ says Alex Friedman, an editor at Prison Legal News, who himself was once incarcerated at a private prison. ‘The hotel industry wants to keep their beds full as much as possible, because it means more revenue. Same thing for the private prison companies.’ ” (Segura 2013) Last year, CCA sent 48 letters to governors volunteering to take the state’s prison system off their hands for 20 years only if the governors can guarantee to keep the facilities up to 90% full, regardless of crime rates. That means passing more harsh and longer sentences, so they can keep these prisons operating with more prisoners. An example of a very alarming decree would be, “The passage in 13 states of the “three strikes” law (life in prison after being convicted of three felonies), made it necessary to build 20 new federal prisons. One of the most disturbing cases resulting from this measure was that of a prisoner who for stealing a car and two bicycles received three 25-year sentences.”(Pelaez 2013) Truly, prison profiteers are trying to get more people in their facilities and keep them there for as long as possible, because the more people sleeping in these prison beds means more money. “A private prison company which runs juvenile facilities, was found guilty of paying two judges $2.6m to send 2000 children to their prisons.”(Wikipedia.org 2013) Even more, “According to California Prison Focus, ‘no other society in human history has imprisoned so many of its own citizens.’ ” (Pelaez2013)
Really, these prison profiteers are making a considerable amount of money, with a prison population of up to 2 million at labor to provide for various industries. “They don’t have to worry about strikes or paying unemployment insurance, vacations or comp time. All of their workers are fulltime and never arrive late or are absent because of family problems; moreover if they don’t like the pay of 25 cents an hour and refuse to work, they are locked up in isolation cells.” (Pelaez 2013) And there’s more, “According to the Left Business Observer, the federal prison industry produces 100% of all military helmets, ammunition belts, bullet proof vests, ID tags, shirts, pants, tents, bags, and canteens. Along with war supplies, prison workers supply 98% of the entire market for equipment assembly services; 93% of paints and paintbrushes; 92% of stove assembly; 46% of body armor; 36% of home appliances; 30% of headphones/microphones/speakers; and 21% of office furniture. Airplane parts, medical supplies, and much more: prisoners are even raising seeing-eye dogs for blind people.” (Pelaez 2013) With these prisoners making all these products for merely only about 25 cents an hour. Is prison labor a new form of slavery?
Surely there are tycoons that invest in prisons like these, “The list of such companies contains the cream of U.S. corporate society: IMB, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Wireless, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq, Honeywell, Hewlett Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom’s, Revlon, Macy’s, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores, and many more. Just between 1980 and 1994, profits went up from 392 million to 1.31 billion.”(Pelaez 2013) Another prison profiteer would be Global Tel* Link a company who profits further than $500 million yearly; taking advantages of prisoner’s family, whom have to face to choose from paying ridiculous phone rates to stay in touch with their imprisoned loved one, or just relinquish on regular calls. GTL gains the contract by bidding a higher kickback (commission). “The higher a kickback, in other words, the more likely a company is to win the contract.”(Pelaez 2013) These high commission converts to sky-high phone rates for families- up to $1.13 per minute.
Specifically, private prisons do exist because of the idea that states can save money by turning to private prisons. “However, state-funded studies have found that private prisons keep only low cost inmates and send others back to state run prisons.”(Wikipedia.org 2013) Furthermore, “Evidence has shown that private prisons are neither demonstrably more cost-effect, nor more efficient than public prisons. A study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics found that the cost-savings promised by private prisons ‘have simply not materialized’ ” (Wikipedia.org 2013) “As Alex Friedman has pointed out, 'the private prison industry operates in secrecy while being funded almost entirely with public taxpayer money.’ In September, Bloomberg reported that ‘the federal government provided almost 43% of [CCA’s] $1.76 billion of revenue in 2012, according to its annual report.”(Segura 2013) While CCA is being funded with all that money, they still don’t have enough to support their prisoner’s basic needs? Moreover, I really don’t think the government should give handouts to private prisons because they’re operating in secrecy but is being funded with public taxpayer money, it isn’t fair because we’re the taxpayers, we should know what’s on with these private prisons.
Ultimately, I felt I should inform people about this topic because I think people have the rights to know what’s going on. I truly think prison is a place where they discipline people for their misdeeds. However, incarceration is being treated as a business for prison profiteers and we need to stop that. In fact, we need to kick private facilities out of our prison system. Besides from this being a business, private prisons also treat prisoners very inhumanly. Seriously, prisoners are humans too. You might think prisoners are murderers and stuff like that, but to be honest, they’re not. Mainly prisoners who got locked up are charged with non-violent crimes. With all these corprations and companies wanting more people confined to their facilities, and even passing inconsiderate decrees. It’s not a mystery why crime rates are going down but the prison population going up. In conclusion, private prisons do really create negative influence to our society.
Works Cited
Segura, Liliana. "With 2.3 Million People Incarcerated in the US, Prisons Are Big
Business | The Nation." With 2.3 Million People Incarcerated in the US, Prisons Are Big Business | The Nation. The Nation, 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.
Pelaez, Vicky. "The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of
Slavery?" Globalresearch.ca. Global Research, 8 Dec. 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery>.
"Private Prison." Wikipedia. Wikipedia Foundation, 27 Nov. 2013. Web. 14 Dec. 2013.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_prison>.
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