Shame on You Rubio!

[debbietoo]

How for-profit prisons have become the biggest lobby no one is talking about



Several industries have become notorious for the millions they spend on influencing legislation and getting friendly candidates into office: Big Oil, Big Pharma and the gun lobby among them. But one has managed to quickly build influence with comparatively little scrutiny: Private prisons. The two largest for-profit prison companies in the United States – GEO (http://influenceexplorer.com/organization/geo-group/7dfa33488aad4908ac1c75336c20db05?cycle=-1) and Corrections Corporation of America (http://influenceexplorer.com/organization/corrections-corp-of-america/46a43aff0a6743c59fbebd588e8ee743) – and their associates have funneled more than $10 million to candidates since 1989 and have spent nearly $25 million on lobbying efforts. Meanwhile, these private companies have seen their revenue and market share soar. They now rake in a combined $3.3 billion in annual revenue and the private federal prison population more than doubled between 2000 and 2010, according to a report (http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/gaming_the_system.pdf) by the Justice Policy Institute. Private companies house nearly half of the nation’s immigrant detainees, compared to about 25 percent a decade ago, a Huffington Post report found (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/07/private-prisons-immigration-federal-law-enforcement_n_1569219.html). In total, there are now about 130 private prisons (http://www.propublica.org/article/by-the-numbers-the-u.s.s-growing-for-profit-detention-industry) in the country with about 157,000 beds.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/04/28/how-for-profit-prisons-have-become-the-biggest-lobby-no-one-is-talking-about/?utm_term=.e43b62106e57 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/04/28/how-for-profit-prisons-have-become-the-biggest-lobby-no-one-is-talking-about/?utm_term=.e43b62106e57):angry:

Re-thug-icans don't care about people, they just care about their bottom line!

[Peter1469]

Here is an organization (http://prisonofpeace.org/)for people interested in solutions.

[Peter1469]

Also, privatization isn't the problem. It is only paying to warehouse criminals that is the problem. Pay for more, like rehab and then properly administer the contract.

[DGUtley]

Debbie, before you condemn, please tell me, because I don't know:

1. Care / safety / education etc in private prison compared to gubment prison?
2. Efficiency in private versus public?
3. Recidivism in private versus public?

[Bethere]

Debbie, before you condemn, please tell me, because I don't know:

1. Care / safety / education etc in private prison compared to gubment prison?
2. Efficiency in private versus public?
3. Recidivism in private versus public?

Please pull pete aside and get him up to speed. You remain one of my favorite posters anywhere/anytime.

He has vastly unfulfilled potential.

[Common]

I agree with Debbie on this one, the undue influence of the lobbies she mentions hurts americans. Ill be more specific with prisons. The privatization of prisons is a total failure. Profit and profiting off human condition does not mix. We the taxpayers have paid BILLIONS in lawsuits against Prison Corps. The conditions were so bad in some prisons in fla that Rick Scott who privatized them had to put them back in govt hands. It was THAT BAD

[Peter1469]

I agree with Debbie on this one, the undue influence of the lobbies she mentions hurts americans. Ill be more specific with prisons. The privatization of prisons is a total failure. Profit and profiting off human condition does not mix. We the taxpayers have paid BILLIONS in lawsuits against Prison Corps. The conditions were so bad in some prisons in fla that Rick Scott who privatized them had to put them back in govt hands. It was THAT BAD

Was that a failure of contract administration, or was it a deliberate way to warehouse people cheaply?

[Common]

Was that a failure of contract administration, or was it a deliberate way to warehouse people cheaply?

The subsequent many lawsuits in fla, were over medical care/lack there of, food and lack of staff and ill trained staff that could not deal with prison conditions and violence. Therefore convicts were put into a very violent dangerous environment moreso than normal.

For Profit prisons do 3 things, they cut staff to the bone to save money, they dont train them again to save money. They give minimum medical care and the food just sucks. To keep it at 65cts a meal.

The entire concept of privatized prisions doesnt work

[Peter1469]

The subsequent many lawsuits in fla, were over medical care/lack there of, food and lack of staff and ill trained staff that could not deal with prison conditions and violence. Therefore convicts were put into a very violent dangerous environment moreso than normal.

For Profit prisons do 3 things, they cut staff to the bone to save money, they dont train them again to save money. They give minimum medical care and the food just sucks. To keep it at 65cts a meal.

The entire concept of privatized prisions doesnt work

The government administers contracts daily. Is there a reason these contracts were ignored? Likely people getting paid off.

[debbietoo]

I agree with Debbie on this one, the undue influence of the lobbies she mentions hurts americans. Ill be more specific with prisons. The privatization of prisons is a total failure. Profit and profiting off human condition does not mix. We the taxpayers have paid BILLIONS in lawsuits against Prison Corps. The conditions were so bad in some prisons in fla that Rick Scott who privatized them had to put them back in govt hands. It was THAT BAD

Sorry, I meant to reply on another post. They are putting kids in these places also. Please read the article in its entirety. Once someone obtains a criminal history, even a misdemeanor, it effects their whole life. It's difficult to get any type of job with even a misdemeanor! Believe me, I know! I found it difficult to find an office job with one DWI offense! I find it extremely offensive that corporations are making a profit off a prisoner's mistakes. Starbucks and Walmart both use prison labor, as well as others, but those are two that I know of for sure. In addition, because they use prison labor, they are taking away jobs for people on the outside!

[debbietoo]

The government administers contracts daily. Is there a reason these contracts were ignored? Likely people getting paid off.

Privatized prisons have been around for awhile; a lot of people just don't know about them! Several corporations use them for cheap labor, like Starbucks and Walmart. I was thinking that there might be a link between racial profiling of poor black neighborhoods and privatization of prisons today.

[debbietoo]

Was that a failure of contract administration, or was it a deliberate way to warehouse people cheaply?

Marco Rubio's lobbyists! Read the article. Re-thug-icans.

[Common]

Privatized prisons have been around for awhile; a lot of people just don't know about them! Several corporations use them for cheap labor, like Starbucks and Walmart. I was thinking that there might be a link between racial profiling of poor black neighborhoods and privatization of prisons today.

Uh wrong, theres federal laws against using convict labor for personal gain, they can only work at prison industries which produce for the prisons or the state, like license plates. The exception to that is work release to allow them to make some money pre release, then they are working for private companies under minimum status

[Common]

[QUOTE=Peter1469;1684688]The government administers contracts daily. Is there a reason these contracts were ignored? Likely people getting paid off.[/QUOTE

I cant speak for govt as to why the contracts were ignored but the resulting lawsuits indicate no one was watching the henhouse. Rick Scott had to end privatitized prisons, I dont believe they are all back in state hands yet its a process.

[Cletus]

Privatized prisons have been around for awhile; a lot of people just don't know about them! Several corporations use them for cheap labor, like Starbucks and Walmart.

:rollseyes:

[debbietoo]

The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of Slavery?


Who is investing?At least 37 states have legalized the contracting of prison labor by private corporations that mount their operations inside state prisons. The list of such companies contains the cream of U.S. corporate society: IBM, 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. All of these businesses are excited about the economic boom generation by prison labor. Just between 1980 and 1994, profits went up from $392 million to $1.31 billion. Inmates in state penitentiaries generally receive the minimum wage for their work, but not all; in Colorado, they get about $2 per hour, well under the minimum.And in privately-run prisons, they receive as little as 17 cents per hour for a maximum of six hours a day, the equivalent of $20 per month. The highest-paying private prison is CCA in Tennessee, where prisoners receive 50 cents per hour for what they call “highly skilled positions.” At those rates, it is no surprise that inmates find the pay in federal prisons to be very generous. There, they can earn $1.25 an hour and work eight hours a day, and sometimes overtime. They can send home $200-$300 per month.Thanks to prison labor, the United States is once again an attractive location for investment in work that was designed for Third World labor markets. A company that operated a maquiladora (assembly plant in Mexico near the border) closed down its operations there and relocated to San Quentin State Prison in California. In Texas, a factory fired its 150 workers and contracted the services of prisoner-workers from the private Lockhart Texas prison, where circuit boards are assembled for companies like IBM and Compaq.

Source:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289

[DGUtley]

Debbie: I have no opinion on this one way or the other. I haven't given it a lot of thought and haven't developed an opinion. Clearly you have. If I was going to develop an opinion, I'd want to know the contrasts between where they are now and where the prisoners were when the gubment ran the prisons. For example, were the prisoners paid more or less than the $20 per month that they are being paid now? If not, is the work more or less dangerous? Is the prison more economically efficient for taxpayers when it's privately ran but no adverse impact to the prisoners (other than the fact that a corporation had to pay to get a government contract -- yes, bid / pay)? You're all fired up about it, and I presume you believe that gubment does it best, which I don't believe that's always necessarily true. Again, I come to you (and, yes, you ignored my previous inquiry) and ask for you to enlighten me on how the prisoners are worse off than before. Thank you. DGUtley.

[MisterVeritis]

The subsequent many lawsuits in fla, were over medical care/lack there of, food and lack of staff and ill trained staff that could not deal with prison conditions and violence. Therefore convicts were put into a very violent dangerous environment moreso than normal.

For Profit prisons do 3 things, they cut staff to the bone to save money, they dont train them again to save money. They give minimum medical care and the food just sucks. To keep it at 65cts a meal.

The entire concept of privatized prisions doesnt work
Every one of those issues is a contract issue.

[Oboe]

Also, privatization isn't the problem. It is only paying to warehouse criminals that is the problem. Pay for more, like rehab and then properly administer the contract.

From my experience, many many criminals do not want to be rehabilitated. We had this one guy in one of the easy dorms that could take photograph you had, and draw it, and except for the obvious difference in a drawing and a photo, his drawing looked just like the picture. I asked him why he didn't get a job doing that kind of thing when he got out and he said that he just liked selling drugs and having a lot of money. Then there were the guys plotting murders in prison...

[Oboe]

Privatized prisons have been around for awhile; a lot of people just don't know about them! Several corporations use them for cheap labor, like Starbucks and Walmart. I was thinking that there might be a link between racial profiling of poor black neighborhoods and privatization of prisons today.

Yeah, dem poleece is takin dem blacks right off da streets and selling dem to prisons.

[Oboe]

Uh wrong, theres federal laws against using convict labor for personal gain, they can only work at prison industries which produce for the prisons or the state, like license plates. The exception to that is work release to allow them to make some money pre release, then they are working for private companies under minimum status

And those that do are watched like a 1000 hawks. If they fart at the wrong time they are done.

[debbietoo]

Debbie: I have no opinion on this one way or the other. I haven't given it a lot of thought and haven't developed an opinion. Clearly you have. If I was going to develop an opinion, I'd want to know the contrasts between where they are now and where the prisoners were when the gubment ran the prisons. For example, were the prisoners paid more or less than the $20 per month that they are being paid now? If not, is the work more or less dangerous? Is the prison more economically efficient for taxpayers when it's privately ran but no adverse impact to the prisoners (other than the fact that a corporation had to pay to get a government contract -- yes, bid / pay)? You're all fired up about it, and I presume you believe that gubment does it best, which I don't believe that's always necessarily true. Again, I come to you (and, yes, you ignored my previous inquiry) and ask for you to enlighten me on how the prisoners are worse off than before. Thank you. DGUtley.

See my previous post and link. This is real and is happening now. There are many states who have legalized the contracting of prison labor.

Link to article:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289

[Truth Detector]

How for-profit prisons have become the biggest lobby no one is talking about



Several industries have become notorious for the millions they spend on influencing legislation and getting friendly candidates into office: Big Oil, Big Pharma and the gun lobby among them. But one has managed to quickly build influence with comparatively little scrutiny: Private prisons. The two largest for-profit prison companies in the United States – GEO (http://influenceexplorer.com/organization/geo-group/7dfa33488aad4908ac1c75336c20db05?cycle=-1) and Corrections Corporation of America (http://influenceexplorer.com/organization/corrections-corp-of-america/46a43aff0a6743c59fbebd588e8ee743) – and their associates have funneled more than $10 million to candidates since 1989 and have spent nearly $25 million on lobbying efforts. Meanwhile, these private companies have seen their revenue and market share soar. They now rake in a combined $3.3 billion in annual revenue and the private federal prison population more than doubled between 2000 and 2010, according to a report (http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/gaming_the_system.pdf) by the Justice Policy Institute. Private companies house nearly half of the nation’s immigrant detainees, compared to about 25 percent a decade ago, a Huffington Post report found (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/07/private-prisons-immigration-federal-law-enforcement_n_1569219.html). In total, there are now about 130 private prisons (http://www.propublica.org/article/by-the-numbers-the-u.s.s-growing-for-profit-detention-industry) in the country with about 157,000 beds.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/04/28/how-for-profit-prisons-have-become-the-biggest-lobby-no-one-is-talking-about/?utm_term=.e43b62106e57 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/04/28/how-for-profit-prisons-have-become-the-biggest-lobby-no-one-is-talking-about/?utm_term=.e43b62106e57):angry:

Re-thug-icans don't care about people, they just care about their bottom line!







:rofl:

[Peter1469]

From my experience, many many criminals do not want to be rehabilitated. We had this one guy in one of the easy dorms that could take photograph you had, and draw it, and except for the obvious difference in a drawing and a photo, his drawing looked just like the picture. I asked him why he didn't get a job doing that kind of thing when he got out and he said that he just liked selling drugs and having a lot of money. Then there were the guys plotting murders in prison...

I agree that there are people who won't accept rehabilitation. My posts focused on those that do, and ways to do it.

[Peter1469]

See my previous post and link. This is real and is happening now. There are many states who have legalized the contracting of prison labor.

Link to article:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289
Angola, north of New Orleans "monetized" its criminal populations a very long time ago.

[Truth Detector]

I agree with Debbie on this one, the undue influence of the lobbies she mentions hurts americans. Ill be more specific with prisons. The privatization of prisons is a total failure. Profit and profiting off human condition does not mix. We the taxpayers have paid BILLIONS in lawsuits against Prison Corps. The conditions were so bad in some prisons in fla that Rick Scott who privatized them had to put them back in govt hands. It was THAT BAD

What you and Debbie apparently don't know is that lobbying is the ONLY profession protected under the Constitution; look it up.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.


http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html

[Truth Detector]

Sorry, I meant to reply on another post. They are putting kids in these places also. Please read the article in its entirety. Once someone obtains a criminal history, even a misdemeanor, it effects their whole life. It's difficult to get any type of job with even a misdemeanor! Believe me, I know! I found it difficult to find an office job with one DWI offense! I find it extremely offensive that corporations are making a profit off a prisoner's mistakes. Starbucks and Walmart both use prison labor, as well as others, but those are two that I know of for sure. In addition, because they use prison labor, they are taking away jobs for people on the outside!

Another massive pile of bovine bile. I think that Liberals who believe this crap should spend some time actually visiting our Federal prisons and seeing the sweet innocent souls housed there before running off at the mouth.

Sometimes, you just have to get out into the real world rather than parrot the dumb ignorant talking points you've been spoon fed.

[Dangermouse]

Then you see some of the sweet innocent souls in solitary, being treated like animals and raging against the machine, with only weeks of their sentence to serve, and you wonder how they will ever function in society when they get out, and they do.