Are private for profit prisons addictive to government?

[Uncle Joe]

The circular trap of addiction consists of pleasure and guilt.

Certainly government derives political pleasure from the relief of not asking it's citizenry to pay more taxes to build public prisons, of course government subsidizes these private for profit prisons but that's not such an immediate and visible pain to the people.

There is also the pleasurable relief of government washing its' hands of the public responsibility of maintaining incarceration. There is less accountability in the private for profit prison industry, this provides an additional degree of separation or escape, sort of like a drug.

Prison labor is very cheap, not quite to the point of slave level but closer than anything else and I do believe subconscious feelings of guilt persist to this day in our nation because of this once accepted practice.

Furthermore as the private for profit prison industry grows in scope and wealth, more funds would be available to it for politicians and judges; (which make up government) to receive via lobbying or bribes to pass favorable laws or sentences beneficial to the prison industrial complex.

I believe the private for profit prison industry; as it grows in power and wealth has the potential to morph into a 21st century version of slavery and as it does so our government; will be more beholden to it, passing ever increasing draconian laws whether they're just, fair or not criminalizing the American People as a means to send more captured customers to this nefarious, freedom consuming industry.

Today, the United States has locked up more prisoners than any other country in the world - 2.3 million-plus people locked up in state and federal prisons and county jails. This has predictably resulted in a shortage of publicly owned prison beds - a shortage increasingly being filled by companies that charge so many dollars for each convict sent their way.

(snip)

For-profit prison companies claim to be able to provide prison and detention services to cities, counties, states and the federal government for less money - an idea that cash-strapped communities apparently find irresistible.

Yet, studies throughout the country show that private prisons are only marginally less expensive than public prisons and are often substantially more expensive. The second issue is amedical care regimen that, until recently, allowed the government such wide discretion that it could deny urgent care, including biopsies for suspected cancers and treatment of heart conditions.

Moreover, a panoply of hidden subsidies is rarely calculated into the private prison industry's cost claims. According to a study by Paul Wright, the founder and editor of "Prison Legal News," a prisoners' rights advocacy newsletter, at least 44, or 73 percent, of the 60 facilities (studied) had received a development subsidy from local, state and/or federal government sources. Subsidies were found in 17 of the 19 states in which the 60 facilities are located.

[ananda]

1. I think the word addictive should be changed to lucrative and corrupt.

It's a very corrupt system, where the private prison industry officials/owners
and government officials lie in the same dirty bed.

[ixion]

2. They're a closed, quasi-government entity that creates a revenue feedback loop

that is, they're crack to pols and well-connected beltway insiders, because everyone profits on both sides. It's only We, the People who get the shaft, as usual.

[Kurmudgeon]

3. That sweet sweet addiction, profitable prosecution. n/t

[MADem]

4. Turns out, it's a failed idea....

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/us/19prisons.html?_r=2

....There’s a perception that the private sector is always going to do it more efficiently and less costly,” said Russ Van Vleet, a former co-director of the University of Utah Criminal Justice Center. “But there really isn’t much out there that says that’s correct.”

Such has been the case lately in Arizona. Despite a state law stipulating that private prisons must create “cost savings,” the state’s own data indicate that inmates in private prisons can cost as much as $1,600 more per year, while many cost about the same as they do in state-run prisons.

The research, by the Arizona Department of Corrections, also reveals a murky aspect of private prisons that helps them appear less expensive: They often house only relatively healthy inmates.

“It’s cherry-picking,” said State Representative Chad Campbell, leader of the House Democrats. “They leave the most expensive prisoners with taxpayers and take the easy prisoners.”

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked for the night crowd.

Thanks to everyone that voted and/or posted.

[tcaudilllg]

6. Slave labor.