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(photo: rutty, flickr)
We’re All Screwed in the End
I often try to figure out ways to convince people that private prisons are not in the best interest of anyone but executives of private prison companies. There are plenty of others out there like myself, trying to work with elected officials and concerned citizens to convince our legislators that continually giving billions of dollars to an industry whose very survival depends on locking up an ever-increasing segment of our population is morally reprehensible, and bad business to boot. But unfortunately, much of that activism seems for naught, as the anti-privatization movement’s resources and political relationships pale in comparison to the influence built up by the privateers.
Take for example Broderick Johnson, lobbyist extraordinaire who was paid more than $1 million to lobby to get TARP passed on behalf of the major financial institutions that destroyed our economy. He has also worked for such socially conscious organizations as Talx Corp (which helps employers challenge unemployment claims), Comcast, and the GEO Group. Mr. Johnson also happens to be a senior adviser to President Obama, whose immigration policies have been, if not an expansion, at least the continuation of the compassionate and sensible policies of his esteemed predecessor.
So Obama’s got a former GEO Group lobbyist working as a senior adviser. He also appointed a former employee of the GEO Group and CCA, Stacia Hylton, as director of the US Marshal’s Service, a federal agency in control of millions of dollars worth of private prison contracts. I guess it should come as no surprise that the GEO Group was awarded a contract in excess of $235 million to house immigration detainees, despite decades of evidence proving the company can’t operate a prison efficiently and that it seems incapable of treating its wards with basic human decency.
4 Comments
For-profit prisons/detention camps are an abomination. A pustulant boil on the butt of our body politic. And that’s speaking politely.
Can any reasonable person, after they have considered the perverse incentives set up by a profit-making incarceration business, think that this business should not be banned?
I attended a workshop yesterday, given by a non-profit group here in Denver that advocates for the minority community. In a powerful interactive presentation, they traced the money – from taxpayers to Homeland Security to ICE to the for-profit immigrant detention centers and prisons.
Especially egregious, is the conduct of Wells Fargo, a major investor in the for-proftit prison corporations. Wells Fargo specifically targets the Latino community as part of its business plan, setting up kiosks at the Mexican consulates and offering accounts to Latinos as they receive their matricular consular card. They also hire Latinos as tellers.
But, after taking their money, they turn around and invest in for-profit companies that build and operate detention centers housing undocumented Latinos.
One of the Latino activists gently corrected me when I used the term “private prisons.” He said that term makes the business sound almost elite – like a private college, or a private hospital. He suggests using the term “for-profit prisons”, since this makes people aware that sectors of our society are making money on incarcerating other members of our society. All at taxpayer expense.
Many thanks to you, WhyIHateCCA, for keeping this issue out there in front of us. We should consign these for-profit prison people to a special circle of Hell.
Great points, WhyIHateCCA. Yet another shocking revelation about the people Obama chooses to surround himself with. I need to find out if there’s a complete list available somewhere.
And Eclair, also a great point about the “for-profit prisons.” Just as accurate if not more so, and a lot less benign-sounding than “private.” We need to start playing to win at this name game.
hear, here! i’m glad to keep writing, so long as people keep reading. You’re exactly right; no reasonable person, in full knowledge of the scope and severity of issues that plague the industry, could find enough redeeming qualities in it to overwhelm the negatives. The industry is predicated on creating suffering and misery. There is an inevitable tradeoff between human rights and profit-seeking, and I see that more clearly in the private prison industry than anywhere else.
Also – glad to hear you were at a workshop in Denver yesterday. I was protesting Wells Fargo and private prisons in DC; we had a wonderful turnout with a ton of really positive energy. Many more people than I was expecting. So maybe people are finally starting to catch on…
Glad to see you were “promoted” last night, Why. We all need to have our noses rubbed into this issue until we realize how putrid the whole concept of for-profit prisons/detention camps really is.
Although, it is part of the takeover of our once-representative government by corporate interests.