US - For-profit prisons

[axj]

The Profitability Of The Private Prison System

Posted on 19 February 2011.

Ex-Judge Mark Ciavarella, 61, was convicted Friday of racketeering and conspiracy in an illegal scheme to incarcerate a greater number of juveniles for profit. Yahoo Finance reported that the ex-Luzerne County judge was prosecuted two years ago,

“in a case that accused him of sending youth offenders to for-profit detention centers in exchange for millions of dollars in illicit payments from the builder and owner of the lockups”

With their power to sentence, judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan abused their positions to enrich themselves as they unlawfully sentenced many juveniles to excessive terms in exchange for bribes from the privatized prison system.

“The judge, known for his harsh and autocratic courtroom demeanor, filled the beds of the private lockups with children as young as 10. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed thousands of juvenile convictions issued by Ciavarella, saying he ran his courtroom with “complete disregard for the constitutional rights of the juveniles,” including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea.”

Federal prosecutors accused the two of taking more than $2 million in bribes from the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care detention centers. They also extorted hundreds of thousands of dollars from the facilities’ co-owner while insisting that the payments were legal and denying that the harsh sentences were related to the payments.

As this official data indicates, the prison population grew significantly since the 1980s which coincides with “conservative, limited Government” President Reagan’s war on drugs and the simultaneous introduction of the privatization of the U.S. prison system.

Amongst the many private prisons in the United States Corrections Corporation of America (CXW) is currently traded with a market cap of $2.75 billion, the GEO Group (GEO) $1.62 billion. Signal Hill analyst T.C. Robillard told CNBC in November “You’ve seen prison populations pretty consistently over the last three decades move up a couple percent a year…and from a business model perspective, it’s clearly good news”

_wtffinance.com - Diese Website steht zum Verkauf! - Informationen zum Thema wtffinance.

 

[JGeropoulas]

I saw this on the front page of USA Today a few days ago (March 8). My first thought was whoever made the offer is a) a member of the 1% wealthy elite and b) is confident there's going to be a steady stream of increasing imprisonments of U.S. citizens

I could just imagine some conglomerate like Monsanto taking over, using their newly-acquired Blackwater thugs as prison guards and feeding their GMO foods to the prisoners--convenient guinea pigs for tweaking their GMO's to subdue the general population.

Legitimate concerns have been raised, of course, but "if" the economy gets bad enough--of course--compromises will have to be made...

Private purchasing of prisons locks in occupancy rates
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
_http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-01/buying-prisons-require-high-occupancy/53402894/1

The $250 million proposal, circulated by the Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America to prison officials in 48 states, has been blasted by some state officials who suggest such a program could pressure criminal justice officials to seek harsher sentences to maintain the contractually required occupancy rates.

"You don't want a prison system operating with the goal of maximizing profits," says Texas state Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat and advocate for reducing prison populations through less costly diversion programs.

The proposal seeks to build upon a deal reached last fall in which the company purchased the 1,798-bed Lake Erie Correctional Institution from the state of Ohio for $72.7 million. Ohio officials lauded the September transaction, saying that private management of the facility would save a projected $3 million annually.

Roger Werholtz, former Kansas secretary of corrections, said he would be concerned “that our state would be obligated to maintain these (occupancy) rates and subtle pressure would be applied to make sentencing laws more severe with a clear intent to drive up the population."

 

[Voyageur]

Oh Brother - this was on SOTT a few days ago, too:

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242679-Private-prison-contracts-aim-for-90-guaranteed-occupancy-rate-for-at-least-20-years

Up North, crime has taken a big downswing, yet in Harperland, new prisons seem to be on the agenda to match the new crime bills making the rounds. Build-em and will fill-them, the likely attitude.

 

[SeekinTruth]

Yeah, this private prisons racket has been a growth industry in the U.S. for years. It's all part of the insane world we live in.

 

[Aeneas]

The very idea of privatizing prisons, so that they are run for profits is insane and a sign of a psychopathic world. We are back in the middle ages...or worse.

 

[Al Today]

(highlighting mine)
[quote author=http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242679-Private-prison-contracts-aim-for-90-guaranteed-occupancy-rate-for-at-least-20-years]
[...]
a private prison management company is offering to buy prisons in exchange for various considerations, including a controversial guarantee that the governments maintain a 90% occupancy rate for at least 20 years.
[...]
Ohio's deal requires the state to maintain a 90% occupancy rate, but Janes said that provision remains in effect for 18 months - not 20 years - before it can be renegotiated.
[...]
[/quote]

Not often what a gubemint official says really happens. Or so I think, from what I can remember... I could be wrong, but I don't think so.

Private ownership of prisons is nothing new here in Ohio. It's growth has provided jobs. What kind of people enjoy that work is another discussion, yes? I do know some guards and they are just regular guys who desperately want to support their families. With damn near any job they can find. But some really enjoy the power... Matter of fact I can remember gubemint offishuls bragging about jobs creation. This has been the proverbial snowball (from hell) rolling down the mountain, ever moving faster and growing larger...

_http://blog.kasichforohio.com/?tag=ohio-prisons
(highlighting mine)

Dispatch: Marion Prison Privatization Will Create Jobs
March 29, 2011
[...]
For them, privatization is a four-letter word: J-O-B-S.
[...]
“Marion County is open for business,” county Commissioner ( name redacted by me) chimed in
[...]

Within this STS driven, psychopathic business for personal gain and for profit world we live in... "They" perceive the 90% occupancy rate guarantee as an excellent business deal. With "time" observing this industry, all I can say is: "That Figures"...

edited for clarity

 

[SeekinTruth]

Al Today, is Marion a high security prison? The reason I ask is back in the 80's I interned for the post-production of a documentary about several women who were basically political prisoners and one of the facilities was called Marion, but I don't remember if it was in Ohio. These women were given extreme sentences for minor crimes. If I remember correctly, one was give 45 years without parole for illegal possession of a fire arm. They were affiliated with "radical" groups the government had targeted, such as the Black Panthers. And their treatment was just awful -- they aged like 15 years during the couple of years the documentary was being made.

I was just curious if the Marion facility might be the same one featured in that film.

 

[Al Today]

Marion is not hardcore.
http://www.drc.ohio.gov/public/mci.htm

You may be thinking of the now closed Mansfield Reformatory. A real baaad place. Should I say I visited family & others there.?.?.?
http://www.mrps.org/ <-- Historical Society Page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_State_Reformatory

The Ohio State Reformatory (OSR), also known as the Mansfield Reformatory, is a historic prison located in Mansfield, Ohio in the United States. It was built between 1886 and 1910 and remained in operation until a 1990 federal court ruling (the 'Boyd Consent Decree') ordered the facility to be closed. While this facility was used in a number of films (including several while the facility was still in operation), TV shows and music videos, it was made famous by the film The Shawshank Redemption (1994) when it was used in the large panning scene and for the Warden's office.

edit: Oops - reply to SeekinTruth... :P


edit add: Oh gawd. They have rentals in Mansfield. I don't know to cry or be big time SPOOKED. That was one awesomely SCARY place. With roadsigns all around - Do Not Pick Up HitchHikers -

 

[Al Today]

[...]
These women were given extreme sentences for minor crimes. If I remember correctly, one was give 45 years without parole for illegal possession of a fire arm. They were affiliated with "radical" groups the government had targeted, such as the Black Panthers. And their treatment was just awful -- they aged like 15 years during the couple of years the documentary was being made.
[...]

The habit in these parts was to start local & ship them off to Mansfield...

 

[SeekinTruth]

Thanks for the info, Al. I'm pretty sure one of the facilities was called Marion and all were maximum security. Some were in the mid-west and some were in the south. So it could have been another Marion.

All these maximum security facilities had nasty bright florescent lights on 24 hours a day. They usually subjected the women featured in the film to arbitrary body cavity searches, solitary confinement, hardly ever let them out to get some sun and breathe some fresh air, etc. God only know what they were feeding them.

 

[Al Today]

Prison used to be for just bad people. Nowadays, with the continued trashing of the U.S. Constitution, any of us here in usa could "disappear" anytime, anywhere...

 

[Vulcan59]

An article describing Kamala's role in for profit prisons!

The Foundation to Battle Injustice discovered Harris’ direct ties to major prison lobbyists funding her campaign and revealed plans to criminalize minor crimes and use executive orders to prosecute far-right and left-wing movements and groups.

Kamala Harris, funded and supported by the prison lobby, plans to unleash mass terror against opposition in the US - Foundation to Battle Injustice

Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice have obtained important evidence indicating that Kamala Harris is plotting large-scale repression and persecution against her political opposition in case of her victory in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

fondfbr.ru

 

[Beau]

An article describing Kamala's role in for profit prisons!

Also using "sources" to describe what her administration would do immediately after the election if she wins. The article seems pretty hyperbolic though, so may want to take it with a grain of salt

 

[Glenn]

According to a number of legal experts, Kamala Harris’ initiative has proven to be a failure. The number of inmates in San Francisco prisons actually increased during the life of the Back on Track program, and the state prison population reached new heights just one year after the program’s start.


In 2011, Harris was elected Attorney General of the State of California. Her tenure was also accompanied by numerous scandals related to mass shootings by police officers of people, including unarmed. In San Francisco alone, police officers killed 18 people during Harris’ six-year tenure, with particularly high-profile killings of black citizens. During her term in office, the number of arrests and convictions against black citizens increased dramatically.

These are left wing, BLM type talking points.

Article seems to be all over the place.