Connections: OH's Kasich to Sell Off Prisons, Wired Reports Prisoners Paid $.23/hr for Missiles

[mod mom]

Kasich considers selling 5 prisons, newspaper says
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 11:27 AM


Associated Press

DAYTON -- A newspaper reports that Gov. John Kasich is considering selling five prisons to private operators as part of the two-year budget he'll release next week.

The Dayton Daily News reports it has obtained Ohio department proposals also indicating the state could cut funding for child care, food banks and drug courts, and shut down regional taxpayer service centers.

-snip
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/03/09/kasich-might-sell-five-prisons-dayton-newspaper-reports.html?sid=101


NOTE WHO KASICH CHOSE TO HEAD THE OHIO DEPT OF REHABILITATION & CORRECTIONS:



Kasich announced Gary Mohr as his pick to head the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

-snip

Mohr is a managing director at the Corrections Corporation of America, which designs, builds, manages and operates federal, state and local prisons across the country.

http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/jan/04/kasich-picks-new-ohio-prison-chief/


SO HE'S GOT A CRONY LINED UP AS AN INSIDER, SO IT MUST BE PROFITABLE, RIGHT?


U.S. Prisoners Build Missile Parts for Raytheon and Lockheed to Sell Abroad

Thursday, March 10, 2011
Inmates in American prisons have come a long way from the days of making license plates. Nowadays, prisoners are helping build missiles and other sophisticated weapons, and providing dirt-cheap labor in the process.

While earning as little as 23 cents an hour—and no more than $1.15—inmates assemble electronic components for the Patriot missile, which has been used by the U.S. military and sold to allies like Israel, Egypt, Kuwait and Taiwan . The use of prisoners employed by Unicor, a government-owned corporation formerly known as the Federal Prison Industries, saves the makers of the Patriot, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, a lot of money on labor costs.

Unicor inmates also have contributed work to the building of the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing F-15 fighter, the General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16, Bell/Textron’s Cobra helicopter and BAE Systems’ Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

Prisoners used to make helmets for the military, until 44,000 of them had to be recalled for shoddy quality.

-SNIP
http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/US_Prisoners_Build_Missile_Parts_for_Raytheon_and_Lockheed_to_Sell_Abroad_110310





Prisoners Help Build Patriot Missiles
By Noah Shachtman March 8, 2011 | 12:24 pm |
This spring, the United Arab Emirates is expected to close a deal for $7 billion dollars’ worth of American arms. Nearly half of the cash will be spent on Patriot missiles, which cost as much as $5.9 million apiece.

But what makes those eye-popping sums even more shocking is that some of the workers manufacturing parts for those Patriot missiles are prisoners, earning as little as 23 cents an hour. (CreditJustin Rohrlich with the catch.)

The work is done by Unicor, previously known as Federal Prison Industries. It’s a government-owned corporation, established during the Depression, that employs about 20,000 inmates in 70 prisons to make everything from clothing to office furniture to solar panels to military electronics.

-snip
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/03/prisoners-help-build-patriot-missiles/


NO WONDER KASICH IS SO GUNGHO TO SELL OFF PRISONS. HIS CORPORATE BUDDY HE HIRED CAN BUY UP THE PRISONS, CONTRACT WITH DEFENSE CONTRACTORS, & MAKE OBSCENE PROFITS! I WONDER IF THIS IS WHAT HE MEANT IN HIS PROMISE TO BRING JOBS TO OHIO: $ .23 PER HOUR PRISON JOBS TO BENEFIT CRONIES! BRING ON THE WARS!

:sarcasm:

hat tip to DUers: The Straight Story, Botany, & Upstatecajun for their individual info!

[adigal]

1. This doesn't sound legal - people mandated by the state

to prison, to be "taken care of" by private companies?? Ripe for prisoner abuse, I think. The audacity of these new governors doesn't seem to end.

[mod mom]

2. they do it under the guise of "inmate training programs"

:mad:

[DBoon]

3. Didn't we fight a war against this?

BERLIN – Over the years, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), the German automobile manufacturer, has become a symbol of quality, prestige, and social status. As it turns out, the company has been hiding a dark secret for decades.

The Quandt family - Germany’s richest– is a major shareholder of the leading German automobile manufacturer.

It made its fortune during the Second World War through the Nazi war machine, profiting from the forced labor of thousands at concentration camps.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3455663,00.html

[mod mom]

4. That is soooo last century. We are looking forward to the brave new world!