If You Build it, We will Fill It
Posted by Michelle Moquin on March 6th, 2014
Good morning!
Over a week ago I spoke about the safety, or lack thereof in prisons, for women. Now, I discovered this recent write on the growth of private prisons. States are guaranteeing private prison building corporations that if they build a prison in their states, they will arrest and convict enough people to meet a minimum requirement.
Ok…this is really sick. And what does it say that the emphasis of that state’s justice will be to put you in jail whether guilty or not, rather than convict you for a crime you did convict?
It’s been a long time since I blogged anything about Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Here’s the write From Think Progress:
Nebraska Lawmaker Wants Her State To Stop Paying Private Prisons For Empty Cells
Promising to keep private prison cells full will be illegal in Nebraska if a proposal from state Sen. Amanda McGill (D) becomes law.
McGill, who is running for higher state office this year, has introduced legislation banning the government from guaranteeing payment to private contractors regardless of the level of service the contractor provide. While that may sound so obvious as to be unnecessary, states often make those kinds of promises to corporations when they privatize public services.
The most notorious examples are private prison contracts that guarantee companies like the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) a certain minimum occupancy level at prisons, and promise to pay CCA the difference should prison populations sag below that level. Such “lock-up quotas” appear in two-thirds of all prison privatization contracts, according to a report last fall by the anti-privatization group In The Public Interest (ITPI).
McGill’s legislation would ban those kinds of payment guarantees across all state contracts, but is specifically targeted at prison contracts. The bill also would amend the state’s corrections contracting law in a variety of ways to both protect taxpayers and regulate prison companies more tightly.
While attempts to improve prison contracts won’t stop America from being the world’s leading jailer on their own, reforms like the one McGill proposes would help change the incentives that lawmakers and law enforcement officials face. Contracts that force public payments for empty cells give elected officials reason to keep prisons as full as possible, which means criminalizing as many behaviors as possible. The largest driver of America’s incarceration epidemic is the futile, decades-old War on Drugs, but backroom deals with prison companies compound the country’s larger problem.
If laws like McGill’s were to take root across the country, the prison industry would lose one of its biggest arguments in favor of investing in companies like CCA.
Skyrocketing profits aside, the prison industry saw some setbacks last year. In a single month last fall, CCA lost contracts in Idaho, Texas, and Mississippi. The Idaho prison that closed was so violent and brutal that it was nicknamed “Gladiator School,” and CCA juiced its profits there by understaffing the facility, effectively outsourcing prison security to gangs of prisoners.
America spends 2.5 times as much per prisoner as it does per public school student. The country’s incarceration levels help drive economic inequality, and the combination of criminalization and neglect creates a “cradle-to-prison pipeline” for black and latino Americans.
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Readers: The last paragraph of the write is shocking isn’t it? Yes, but not surprising. And…OTWs are the ones that have to live with the sick Just-us justice system.
I decided to click over and read more and this is what I found:
States spend on average two and half times more per prisoner than they spend per public school student, this at a time when a majority of children of all racial and income backgrounds cannot read or compute at grade level in fourth- or eighth-grade and huge numbers of youth drop out of schools. The privatization of juvenile and adult prisons is yet another added danger. The world’s largest for-profit, private prison corporation, the Corrections Corporation of America, recently offered to run the prison systems in 48 states for 20 years if the states would guarantee a 90 percent occupancy rate.
And still more:
The rate of incarceration in the United States has spiraled out of control—with nearly 2.3 million people in prison or jail, the rate is now about 240 percent higher than it was in 1980, and 60 per- cent of this population is comprised of nonviolent offenders. Another 4.8 million individuals are on probation or parole, also mostly for nonviolent offenses. This tragic scenario generates a much larger inmate population than that of the 27 nations of the European Union combined and means we, alone, incarcerate nearly a quarter of the prisoners in the entire world. And while cash-strapped states are shutting down institutions that provide important public services such as hospitals and universities, prison expansion is eating up higher percentages of state budgets.
It does not need to be this way. Continued prison expansion has not been a response to an increase in actual crime. In fact, research shows that if incarcera- tion rates tracked violent crime rates, the incarceration rate would have peaked in 1992 and then by 2008 would have fallen back to about the same level it was in 1980. And while it is true that many states have seen decreases in their prison populations, there has still been a rise in the number of immigrant detention facilities, in addition to private prisons, county jails, and gender-specific facilities. The current criminal justice system not only wastes important state dollars that could be spent on vital services, but it also fails to keep the public safe because the system emphasizes punishment rather than rehabilitation.
What’s more, racial disparities in the current criminal justice system are outrageous, leading to a system of racial disenfranchisement and inequality that some argue we have not seen since slavery or its aftermath of codified segregation, Jim Crow. African Americans account for roughly 40 percent of the nation’s inmate population (while comprising only 13 percent of the total population) and Latinos account for slightly less, representing 21 percent of inmates (while being only 16 percent of the popula- tion). Even after offenders are released, they still face a lifetime of exclusion—often insurmountable job discrimination and disqualification from any public benefits that would help them get back on their feet as productive citizens such as food stamps, public housing, and even student loans.
The rampant and disproportionate imprisonment of people of color is a national tragedy.
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Peace & Love.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
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michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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March 6th, 2014 at 11:28 am
BREAKING LA TIMES: Medicare, child care, college grants are all under Paul Ryan’s budget axe
William — Paul Ryan just introduced his worst plan yet: a scheme that would absolutely decimate anti-poverty programs and Obamacare — all to hand the GOP’s billionaire financiers and largest corporate supporters an enormous tax break.
Paul Ryan and John Boehner would destroy critical benefits that help struggling Americans just to provide tax loopholes for their wealthiest supporters to buy yachts and private jets.
ADD YOUR NAME: Denounce Paul Ryan’s plan to hand tax breaks to his billionaire financiers while struggling Americans suffer the consequences.
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Denouncing Ryan Budget: (signature pending)
Hundreds of thousands of Americans could be left without food, rent, and health care — all to pay for continuing and expanding outrageous tax breaks — if Ryan’s despicable plan were to pass.
It’s the latest example that Republicans are willing to do anything to buy loyalty from their largest backers — even throw struggling Americans under the bus. It’s outrageous, and we have to stop this plan before it gets to the Senate.
SIGN HERE: Denounce Paul Ryan’s disgusting plan right away. Let’s get 100,000 grassroots signatures!
Thanks for your support,
DSCC Rapid Response
March 6th, 2014 at 3:48 pm
The last abortion clinic in the vast, impoverished Rio Grande Valley closed Thursday, along with the sole remaining clinic in the 100-mile stretch between Houston and the Louisiana border, posing a tall obstacle to women seeking to end pregnancies across a wide swath of the nation’s second-largest state.
The closures in McAllen and Beaumont bring to 19 the number of clinics that have shut down since Texas lawmakers adopted tough new abortion restrictions last summer. Twenty-four clinics remain to serve a population of 26 million people, and more closures could happen after additional restrictions take effect later this year.
March 6th, 2014 at 4:28 pm
A Georgia Court of Appeals judge has ordered a new trial for a man convicted of rape because he doesn’t believe that the victim in the case “behave[d] like a victim.”
http://www.salon.com/2014/03/06/judge_overturns_rape_verdict_because_the_victim_didnt_behave_like_a_victim/
March 6th, 2014 at 4:29 pm
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/13/notorious_abusing_pastor_wont_serve_time_pastor_partner/
March 6th, 2014 at 5:06 pm
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-upskirt-photo-massachusetts-20140306,0,604837.story?track=rss#axzz2vEc36PhE
March 8th, 2014 at 7:09 pm
I have a radical solution.
This especially applies to my home state of Oklahoma.
Stop sending non-violent drug offenders to prison. Stop locking people up for marijuana possession. Not only would we not need private prisons, we could probably close down some of the state prisons.
March 8th, 2014 at 7:10 pm
This could backfire with a crooked judge who decides to send everyone
to jail just to keep the jails full.
Michael Moores movie “Capitalism: A Love Story” had some kids with minor offenses getting locked up in detention by a crooked judge. Eventually, the judge got his own justice and was put behind bars for taking payoffs from the company that ran the detention center.
March 8th, 2014 at 7:11 pm
I have a better idea:
How about banning privately run prisons?
March 8th, 2014 at 7:12 pm
Private prison contracts should be illegal
If big corporations want to privatize the public sector then the public should not have to subsidize them when they lose money.
March 8th, 2014 at 7:13 pm
Nathan#6, I remember when a story like that hit the news.
Law and Order SVU did a really good episode about that too.
March 8th, 2014 at 7:15 pm
Ira, That’s exactly what should happen.
All the private prisons will do in response is ramp up the lobbying for tough on crime to fill the prisons to make up the difference. As long as profit is a motive, there will be a motivation to fill those cells. This legislation won’t change that.
March 8th, 2014 at 7:17 pm
Brigid#8, I agree. But I think they’d wither on the vine if states wouldn’t sign that clause.
They don’t want to take the risk of a declining population.
March 8th, 2014 at 7:19 pm
Merino#7;
What do you mean “backfire”? It is aimed directly at those crooked judges.
March 8th, 2014 at 7:21 pm
Mona, it reads that it’s aimed at stopping the payment clauses. While it does say there will be tighter regulation on judges, it’s main focus seems to be the contract payments.
March 8th, 2014 at 7:23 pm
They need more draconian drug laws with higher minimum sentencing mandates to fill up those empty prison cells so private prison corps can get back to being profitable job creators.
March 8th, 2014 at 7:24 pm
Yup, ridiculous drug laws keep profit cages nice and full for our wealthy overlords. Bonus play: they keep minorities out of voting booths.
March 8th, 2014 at 7:25 pm
Our prison laws are absurd. There is a minimum count on how many inmates there can be and police are required to have a minimum number of tickets given out? Why does our country assume that it’s citizens can’t be good?
March 8th, 2014 at 7:26 pm
This can help but still just encourages the prisons to lobby for more arrests and tougher laws. I would like to see her follow this up with an effort to start bringing prisons back into government control.
March 8th, 2014 at 7:27 pm
Just wait until marijuana is legalized nationally…