By Jennifer Carroll
Columnist.
While the United
States only holds 5% of the world’s population, we hold 25% of the
world’s prison population. We are the world’s largest jailer. The ACLU
found that “the United States imprisons more people- both per capita and
in absolute terms- than any other nation in the world, including
Russia, China, and Iran.” The United States prison system has
increasingly become less of a haven to rehabilitate and punish those in
our society who break the law and more of a money-making machine
influenced primarily by dollar signs. In requiring minimum mandatory
sentences for non-violent offenders and contractually obligating itself
to prisoner quotas of almost 100% in many prisons, the privatization of
housing criminals has lost sight of what should be its main goal. When
maximizing profits and filling beds at privately run institutions
becomes the main priority of our justice system, who really benefits?
The
privatization of prisons began in the 1970’s when President Richard
Nixon implemented the “War on Drugs.” The War on Drugs included drug
prohibition policies and mandatory minimum sentencing enacted to reduce
drug use and presence in our country. Unfortunately, the crack down on
drugs in America by Nixon and continuing presidents increased the prison
population exponentially. Between 1960 and 1980 total arrests in the
United State rose by 28% and the number of drug-related offenses
increased by more than 127%. As a result, state and local governments
began outsourcing to private prison companies to meet the demand the War
on Drugs created.
Today, 40% of all federal and state inmates are
non-violent drug offenders and our prison population has risen by over
700% in the last 30 years. As of 2011, around half of all prisoners
incarcerated in state facilities were imprisoned for non-violent crimes,
while half of all offenders in federal prison were serving time for
drug-related offenses.
At the moment,
private prisons have become a multi-billion dollar industry in the
United States. For-profit prison companies contract with federal and
state governments to house people in a privately constructed prison and
even take over management of state-run facilities in recent cases.
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest owner of
for-profit prison facilities in America, had revenue of $1.7 billion
dollars in 2013. Of that, CCA made $300 million in profits, 100% of
which was funded by taxpayers via government contracts. CCA operates 66
correctional and detention facilities, of which they own 53, with a
total of 86,000 beds in 20 states and Washington D.C.
They operate 44%
of private corrections and detention beds in the United States with
approximately 90 agreements with various state and local agencies. To
profit off of the imprisonment of people, CCA charges a daily rate per
person incarcerated to cover investment operating costs. To turn their
biggest profit, Corrections Corporation of America contracts include
required clauses that guarantee occupancy rates for its prisoners, also
known as “bed guarantee clauses.” In other words, the more individuals
locked up, the more profit earnings for CCA and its shareholders. In the
Public Interest found that not only are prisoner quotas normal, but
that out of 60 contracts they analyzed between state or local
governments and private prison companies, 65% or nearly two-thirds of
contracts contained “language mentioning prisoner quotas.” The number of
individuals held in private prisons from 1999-2010 grew by 80% versus
18% in not for-profit federal institutions.
Not only are the
pressures of bed requirements a problem for our justice system, they
are essentially a problem for us, the taxpayers, as well. For-profit
prisons incomes are entirely through government contracts that use
taxpayer money. These contracts don’t only require a mandated occupancy
rate; they guarantee that if the rate is not met they will be paid money
for not meeting the quota. In fact, the private prison company
Management & Training Corp., sued the state of Arizona in 2011 for
$16 million dollars for not meeting their prisoner bed occupancy rate.
The average bed occupancy rate for prisons in Arizona is between 97% and
100%. The state settled with the company for $3 million dollars. In
essence, Arizona payed a company millions of dollars because not enough
people were committing crimes. Investing in private prisons is also big
business. The Vanguard Group and Fidelity Investments are not only
America’s top 401(k) providers, they are also two of the private prison
industries biggest investors owning 20% of both CCA & GEO, the
largest private prison corporations, together.
This means that almost
anyone with a 401(k) is investing in private prisons. Public employees
in Florida, for example, invested $10.3 million in private prisons
through 401(k)’s in 2013 alone, according to Vice.com. Taxpayers spent
$68.7 billion in 2008 alone to feed, clothe, and provide medical care to
prisoners in county jails, state and federal prisons. Corrections
spending, as a share of state budgets, rose faster than health care,
education, and natural resources spending from 1986 to 2010. Wouldn’t it
be more cost effective to taxpayers if the government implements civil
citation for first time, nonviolent offenders as an alternative to
incarceration? Of course with the dollar incentive for private prisons,
contributions to law makers and money given to government entities, no
wonder incarceration is the preferred choice.
It is important
to be aware of the effect of private prisons on our justice system and
our citizens. The evidence alone shows that we are putting unnecessary
contractual agreements with private corporations above the safety and
well-being of the citizens they have a responsibility to care for and
rehabilitate. Not only do many studies show that for numerous offenses
incarceration has little to no impact on public safety, but experts also
argue that requirements of prisoner quotas also create an incentive for
“policy makers to focus on filling empty prison beds as opposed to
pursuing long-term changes, such as prison reform.” Huffington Post even
asserts that “many states are effectively obligated to continue to
incarcerate people regardless of crime rates and public safety needs, or
otherwise hand over taxpayer dollars in or order to satisfy private
profit making companies.” Private prisons impede any possible progress
in reducing either the number of people incarcerated or the laws used to
put people behind bars. In many instances, private prison lobbyists
advocate to put more Americans behind bars.
CCA even acknowledged in
recent 10-k filings with The Securities and Exchange Commission that its
profitability may be hurt by “the relaxation of enforcement efforts and
leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices, or
through the decriminalization of certain activities.” One would then
wonder: if the private prison corporations prioritize profit over both
inmates incarcerated in prison and taxpayers outside of prison, are they
really in the business to help anyone but themselves? A government that
touts rehabilitation and reduction in recidivism as their goal should
never agree to prison population guarantees. The emphasis of prisons
should be on making sure hardened criminals are locked up for life and
those that committed lesser offenses are trained and educated to be
self-sufficient when they re-enter society, or utilize the option of
civil citation. In requiring a bottom-line number of prisoners per
facility to maximize profits, there can be no assurance or focus on
prison reform or decreasing the number of our citizens behind bars and
unable to progress productively in society.
It is safe to
say, based on the evidence, that mass incarceration is a problem in
America with 1 in 99 individuals imprisoned. The public good suffers
when privately-owned companies create mandates requiring people to be
convicted of crimes (some even falsely accused) in order for them to be
successful. Today, there are 11 times as many people in jail for drug
convictions than there were in 1980, with that number steadily
increasing. Not only are we not helping these people by locking them up
for mandatory-minimum sentences, in which they receive little to no
help, learn no employable skills to help them be successful citizens
upon release, we are, in most cases, teaching them to become better
criminals. The system is also leaving them with for-profit companies
that place greater significance on earning every dime out of their
incarceration, than rehabilitating productive human beings. At a
minimum, it is a conflict of interest for privately run corporations to
house prisoners through mandatory occupancy rates to create a profit and
at worse seeing public officials stay silent to this wrong.
Sources:
Banking on Bondage: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration." American Civil Liberties Union. <https://www.aclu.org/banking-bondage-private-prisons-and-mass-incarceration>.
Childress, Sarah. "Feds to Reconsider Harsh Prison Terms for Drug Offenders." PBS, 09 Apr. 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/criminal-justice/locked-up-in-america/feds-to-reconsider-harsh-prison-terms-for-drug-offenders/>.
Corrections Corporation of America." - SourceWatch. <http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corrections_Corporation_of_America>.
Downs, Ray. "Who's Getting Rich off the Prison-Industrial Complex?” VICE. 17 May 2013. <http://www.vice.com/read/whos-getting-rich-off-the-prison-industrial-complex>.
Fernandez, David.
"Rick Scott: Prison Profiteer." Fight for Florida. 1 Oct. 2014.
.
Kirkham, Chris. "Prison Quotas Push Lawmakers To Fill Beds, Derail Reform." The Huffington Post. 19 Sept. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/private-prison-quotas_n_3953483.html>.
"Private Prison Sues State for Not Having Enough Prisoner." Wondergressive. 12 Dec. 2013. <http://wondergressive.com/private-prison-sues-state-wins-more-prisoners/>.
"Private Prisons
to States: You'd Better Start Throwing More People In Prison Or We'll
Sue." If You Only News. 22 June 2015. <http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/crime/private-prisons-to-states-youd-better-start-throwing-more-people-in-prison-or-well-sue/>.
Sanders, Topher. "589 DAYS TO JUSTICE?" Florida-Times Union, 2 Aug. 2015. <http://jacksonville.com/files/589days/investigation.html#article>.
No comments:
Post a Comment