6 shocking revelations about how private prisons make money
Private prison companies are striking deals that guarantee high prison occupancy rates
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/23/6_shocking_revelations_about_how_private_prisons_make_money_partner/
I have talked about the prison industrial complex a time or twain before so this won’t be news to my regular reader(s), but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to slide it in for a bit of repetition. Here are the revelations for those of you who won’t take the time to read the article:
- 65 percent of the private prison contracts ITPI received and analyzed included occupancy guarantees in the form of quotas or required payments for empty prison cells (a “low-crime tax”). These quotas and low-crime taxes put taxpayers on the hook for guaranteeing profits for private prison corporations.
- Occupancy guarantee clauses in private prison contracts range between 80% and 100%, with 90% as the most frequent occupancy guarantee requirement.
- Arizona, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Virginia are locked in contracts with the highest occupancy guarantee requirements, with all quotas requiring between 95% and 100% occupancy.
- Though crime has dropped by a third in the past decade, an occupancy requirement covering three for-profit prisons has forced taxpayers in Colorado to pay an additional $2 million.
- Three Arizona for-profit prison contracts have a staggering 100% quota, even though a 2012 analysis from Tucson Citizen shows that the company’s per-day charge for each prisoner has increased an average of 13.9% over the life of the contracts.
- A 20-year deal to privately operate the Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Ohio includes a 90% quota, and has contributed to cutting corners on safety, including overcrowding, areas without secure doors and an increase in crime both inside the prison and in the surrounding community.
Ain’t it great that taxpayers provide so much to the rich and powerful! So sad that they can’t get by on their own resources and need so much help, but we are a great country and we help out those who are in need.
