Private prison companies’ dependence on ensuring a large prison population to maintain profits provides inappropriate incentives to lobby government officials for policies that will place more people in prison (Mason, 2012). For example, mandatory sentencing, three strikes laws, and truth in sentencing, which all contribute to higher prison populations. Also, in some cases could increase the number of people held in immigration detention facilities. This is proven by creation and organization of model legislation through conservative lobbying groups, including political contributions and lobbying efforts of individual companies. As a result, the effort to increase reliance of incarceration occurs at a time where the rate of imprisonment
On March 15, 2017, at 9:10 p.m at the California Correctional Center located in Susanville,CA a riot occured resulting in the injuries of six prison guards and one inmate. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation stated that an inmate had assaulted an officer on Wednesday in the dining hall of the Prison, around 30 other prisioners rushed to the scene and began assaulting the officers with physical force and the use food trays against the officers. Officers regained control of the dining hall with the use of physical force, pepper spray and non-lethal projectiles to overcome the riot in minutes. Their were four correcitonal officers who were treated for minor cuts and bruises and a couneslor was treated for
Multiple human rights organizations, as well as political and social organizations, are condemning what they are calling a “new form of inhumane exploitation in the United States,” where a prison population of up to 2 million – mostly Black and Hispanic are working for various industries for a subsistence wage (Pelaez, 2008). For the businesspersons who have invested in the prison industry, however, it has been like finding a ‘pot of gold.’ All of their workers are fulltime, and never arrive late or are absent. Moreover, if they don’t like the pay of 25 cents an hour and refuse to work, they are locked up in isolation
He argues that privately contracted prisons reduce cost of corrections for federal and state budgets. Seiter explains how private and public corrections are not competitors but partners. Partners that “ are proud of the services they deliver and are committed to meeting the expectations of the taxpayer and public official responsible overseeing their work” (Seiter 419). Private prisons have the ability to buy the fundamental supplies, hire more staff to avoid overtime expense which lower the operating costs to run the prison and make more profit. Setier accurately states that over the past decade “ new growth in prison inmates is going to private prison” (419).
Surprisingly, a number of jails and state prisons across the country are in the middle of a heated crisis. A high percentage of the jails and prisons are dealing with antiquated communication systems that place the institution at risk. An institution without a strong communication system is a danger to the inmates and the personnel in the institution. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that the city of Struthers plans to close their city jail. They decided to take this strategic step instead of making improvements to the communications system within the jail along with other outstanding issues.
A prominent political analyst and author Mark Braider recently made the case in a 2015 New York Times piece stating that corporations and their influence on our government is a major, often un-recognized pitfall of America. While many may be ignorant of the issue, those who are informed often come to the same conclusions as Braider in his argument about to which the extent of corporations in America affect our government and way of life; often for the worse. Looking at the macro scale at which government has an effect the lives we live; private prisons serve as the epitome in commercial-political interaction. The issue of private prisons the reason why I strongly agree with Braider’s controversial opinion about the importance of informing the ignorant of this pressing issue. American politics work somewhat simply at the legislative level in regards to their relationships with major companies and corporations.
The prison-industrial complex is a corrupt political system that consists of overpowered politicians whose sole ambition is exploiting poor, uneducated, and under-privileged Americans to make money. Although, it wasn’t initially the purpose when Rockefeller started the war on drugs, but he started something bigger than he could’ve imagined at that time. The prison system has been proven to be ineffective, and costly waste of resources. However, it probably won’t be abolished due to the cash flow that it brings to some of the largest corporations in the
History South Carolina South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) was developed in 1866 because the South Carolina General Assembly detected awful conditions that existed in the county jails. With the help of the general assembly, inhumane treatments of inmates were put to an end, and public hanging ended in 1878. Before the 1900’s inmates were forced to take baths in tub where the water could not have been changed until all of them were finished. Until 1937, women were still being housed in the same facilities as men. SCDC chose to use their inmates to help maintain good road conditions; if a county chose not to do so inmates would be transferred to the state.
Teen pregnancy- Force teens into birth control as soon as the teen turns 13. Global Warming- Everyone gets electric cars so we don 't have to use fuel ever again.
In our previous class we spoke about how the profile of the usual white collar criminal is white, middle age, has a high level of education married, has a home and is in a supervisory position. This reminded me of one of my undergrad classes where we spoke about older white males more likely to commit suicide because of the loss of status. Putting those two together if reminded me of former Walls Street trader Michael Marin. Michael Marin was 53 years old, had a wife and children and could not pay the $2,500 a month mortgage on his home. Furthermore, he had $34,000 in back taxes.
Over the past 40 years U.S. incarceration has grown at an extraordinary rate, with the United States’ prison population increasing from 320,000 inmates in 1980 to nearly 2.3 million inmates in 2013. The growth in prison population is in part due to society’s shift toward tough on crime policies including determinate sentencing, truth-in-sentencing laws, and mandatory minimums. These tough on crime policies resulted in more individuals committing less serious crimes being sentenced to serve time and longer prison sentences. The 1970s-1980s: The War on Drugs and Changes in Sentencing Policy Incarceration rates did rise above 140 persons imprisoned per 100,000 of the population until the mid 1970s.
This creates problems because it adds to the eminence amount of tax dollars spent every year. In the article “The high price of incarceration in America” by Aimee shows that the average American taxpayer spends about $260 a year that is almost 80 billion dollars a year for incarceration (1). There have been many voters who have been trying to reduce the amount of mass incarcerations that have been going on since the 1980’s. The majority of prisoners who were released between 2014-2015 returned to crime but the rate that they were committing the crime and returning was dropped at an astonishing degree. In the article “Prosecutors Fight to Plan to Lower Drug Sentencing “ by Sari, Horwitz (1) shows how government officials are trying to cut back on the amount of long term sentencing for first time offenders.
Private Prisons Many people in America have no idea that there are different types of prison systems. The two different types of prisons include state-ran and private. State-ran prisons are prisons owned and operated by the local, state, or federal government; however, private prisons are prisons in which individuals are incarcerated by a third-party organization that is under contract with a government agency. Private prisons are funded by the government and have the unique ability to do whatever they want.
The United States has a larger percent of its population incarcerated than any other country. America is responsible for a quarter of the world’s inmates, and its incarceration rate is growing exponentially. The expense generated by these overcrowded prisons cost the country a substantial amount of money every year. While people are incarcerated for several reasons, the country’s prisons are focused on punishment rather than reform, and the result is a misguided system that fails to rehabilitate criminals or discourage crime. This literature review will discuss the ineffectiveness of the United States’ criminal justice system and how mass incarceration of non-violent offenders, racial profiling, and a high rate of recidivism has become a problem.
Over 2 million people are currently being held in United States prisons, and while the U.S. may only hold 5% of the world’s population, it houses 25% of its prisoners. In the past few years, America’s prison system has fallen under public scrutiny for it’s rising incarceration rate and poor statistics. Many Americans have recently taken notice of the country’s disproportionate prisoner ratio, realized it’s the worst on the planet, and called for the immediate reformation of the failing system. The war on drugs and racial profiling are some of the largest concerns, and many people, some ordinary citizens and others important government figures, are attempting to bring change to one of the country 's lowest aspects.
The US prison population makes up 25% of the world’s prison population while the rest of America only makes up 5% of the world population. The cost of keeping these 2 million people in the US behind bars is an astonishing $80 billion. With such a gargantuan price, politicians, economists, and concerned taxpayers are struggling to find ways to reduce costs. Two ways have been identified as the most promising: privatize the prison industry or put inmates to work. There have already been successful implementations of both around the country, yet inmate labor is likely to be stifled and greatly discouraged due to its association with slave labor.