For Profit Prisons -- Are You Insane?!

reply to post by tothetenthpower

I had created a similar thread some time ago. It got 1 whole star.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

This is a topic that definitely needs more attention.

I would like to add that, yes many times innocent people go to jail. If you have big bucks you can afford to hire a good lawyer. If you are poor, you are appointed an attorney. In other words...bend over and kiss your butt goodbye. And it is not only the judges responsible for our growing prison population...you have some sneaky DA's who are more interested in having and keeping a high prosecution rate.. Sometimes people are railroaded into taking a plea deal because the DA threatens to get the book thrown at them if they don't accept a deal.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Ive been saying this for ages...but I guess that's because I have worked for the prison systems before and know what its all about and how it works...

ALL OF THEM ARE FOR PROFIT!....

the DOC government sanctioned ones are for profit as well...the profits are just in the form of government budgets that comes from extortion of US citizens (taxes)...

its a disguised for profit but it functions exactly the same way as the private sector...the government side just has a little bit more job security than the private side...they get "first dibs" in a sense...once they meet their quota they dish off the remainder to private facilities...

the inmate labor program is highly efficient and they make EVERYTHING for the government...damn near all office furniture, license plates not only for the state of Colorado but several other states...beautification programs etc...

I'm not saying people shouldn't be punished for their crimes but when you throw pre-crime laws into the mix and realize most of the incarcerated are there not because they hurt anyone but because they got high one time or another...it brings the legitimacy of the word "crime" into question...it brings the legitimacy of the word "justice" into question and quite frankly...looks a whole hell of a lot like concentration camp type labor being disguised by the label "criminal" which is handed out like a welfare check...

If it was "harder" to become a criminal and serve prison time...the system would have a bit more legitimacy in my mind...but its not...

Its insanely easy to end up in prison...and that sure as hell isn't softening with more and more pre-crime laws being passed as the new trending fad in government fashion...add to that mix the NDAA and what constitutes a "terrorist" and I'll be damned if Hitler didn't reincarnate and design this system himself fixing all the problems he had with his first one...

reply to post by tothetenthpower

I thought this was common knowledge its a business

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
...
Somebody explain to me how anybody thought this was a good idea? How are we to have reformed prisoners, when the actual goal of the private industry is to continue to make money.

As pointed out above, no prisoners equal no profit. This means they have a vested interest in keeping a lot of people in jail for longer. What you get usually is the following:

*Longer Sentences On Minor Crime
*Minimum Sentences On Major Crime and Minor Crime
*Ambiguous changes to the state and federal code as to what constitutes a crime or not.
*The Exponential Growing Prison Population.

This is a MAJOR issue. Think about how many people are denied voting rights. Think of all the tax income we'd get from the 1 million people currently in jail for non-violent offenses, that should NOT include jail time.

You all are bleeding money from every point, yet can still afford a Prison Industrial Complex that ONLY supports private corporations and line their pockets.

Let's not even get into the forced slavery of the inmates, having to work for cents on the dollar for in some cases brutal work that you'd have to pay VERY good wages to anybody otherwise.

Thank you for bringing attention to this VERY important topic. Everyone needs to know.

I found out about this just recently and was shocked. I was talking to the parent of someone in a nearby county jail. If the prisoner wants a cookie, they can buy one -- for triple the price one would pay outside.

If you want to send the prisoner a book, it must be sent directly by a bookseller or it will be refused. Like they can't inspect a package? I wonder if Amazon gets a kickback?

Good people without prior records are being sent to jail for minor "crimes" (like being too poor to pay the fine -- is this the modern debtors prison?) because the corporate jails make money on the prisoners. Jail is now a moneymaking industry.

This is Capitalism perverted.

I am appalled that this was ever allowed to happen. I wonder how many people know.

Is it too late to change it? I have lost so much hope for this country.

Originally posted by gladtobehere
reply to post by tothetenthpower

 

I had created a similar thread some time ago. It got 1 whole star.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

This is a topic that definitely needs more attention.

Just gave your linked thread its first flag and second star.
Too bad it got buried.

Originally posted by ecapsretuo
It is clear that accountability of Government is bygone, if it ever existed. The transparency of American government has been clouded by private interests to the benefit thereof. Behind closed doors now are created regulations and laws which serve not the interest of the people, but the flow of money to these corporations.
We see this over and over, with Monsanto guys and Pharm heads in the FDA. Weapons merchants have infiltrated the Defense Department. Treasury officials walk in from Wall Street. And here, the hugely growing
Security industry, which thrives in direct proportion to citizens' loss of freedoms.
The very agendas such companies become the agenda of of our Nation, as they line the pockets of our crooked politicians:

*Longer Sentences On Minor Crime
*Minimum Sentences On Major Crime and Minor Crime
*Ambiguous changes to the state and federal code as to what constitutes a crime or not.
*The Exponential Growing Prison Population.

.

Corporate entities have even less accountability to the public. So a very real danger here, is that prisoners might suffer at the hand of a sadistic few who answer to no one. And in the case of prisoner, there is no one to turn to when human rights are violated.

Excellent post. Since I can't give you more than one star:

Originally posted by Guenter
reply to post by tothetenthpower

 

This is exactly the issue what is wrong with 'capitalism' and 'individualism' - also the moment one criticizes it one becomes a 'commi'.
Money has no conscience. 100$ can buy food, fuel, rent, a prostitute, drugs or a prison. common sense is legislated away and as long there is unchecked profits to be made there will be incentives to 'invent' new crimes' etc.
What our world has to find is a new understanding of community. Where we again become a people and identify as a people. Where the WHOLE of us shares the wealth of its nations and shares its responsibilities. We all know it 'costs' to keep people in prison. So do we want to have more people in prison so that a few can make profit for themselves? I am not about to start a rant for socialism or communism. We need something new! A common unity and ownership defined as a stewardship for the common good of all. We have to begin to understand that the happiness and equality of all people ensures us safety. And if wealth is not distributed evenly, and the have not begin to seek an income outside the law, than no matter how we much more criminalize each action, it will only get worse. Pvt prison systems are finally showing us how far we have been led 'willingly' into the abyss.

Don't blame Capitalism. As I posted before: this is Capitalism Perverted.
This is Capitalism without moral responsibility or the boundaries of decency.
To make money from the forcible incarceration of people is sick. Anyone with a shred of common sense can see this is inviting GROSS human rights violations.

Originally posted by nrthstar
reply to post by tothetenthpower

 

Corporations are going as far as hiring inmates to actually work for them as marketers. The inmates are not lying when they introduce themselves and the companies they are representing. They "cold call" and collect all sorts of private information, meanwhile, the person on the other end of the line is oblivious.

Money is everything to corporate America, even if it means enslavement, as mentioned by many.

What can you say about corporations that have no problem using slave labor in other countries to make a profit.

Labor so cheap that they can afford to ship products thousands of miles and still make obscene profits.

They have no loyalty to their own countrymen. They can take away decent jobs from their compatriots and gut the economy of their own nation in the process. What do they care? No national loyalties. The corporate elites can live in Singapore or Monaco or Switzerland. What is it to them that the US turns into a Third World country.

Originally posted by Tazkven
Brings to mind the supposed letter written by a former music executive "The Secret Meeting that Changed Rap Music and Destroyed a Generation"
....

Its authenticity has been debated but to me it is not outside the realm of possibility. Good way to create revenue for the for profit prisons ...

Disclaimer: I don't necessarily support the ideas or thoughts from the video, just wanted to post an audio version of the letter.

I don't have any problem buying the idea that the Illuminati would push this idea (more people in prison, especially Blacks [I believe the Illuminati are racist to the core]), but I think they could do this in more subtle ways than announcing their goals to a couple of dozen people at a meeting.

So I call HOAX.

All they would have to do is reward those rappers who glorify crime. Make sure the music videos glamorize drug dealers, pimps, and gangstas. They could steer taste easily without spelling out their agenda to anyone. And probably have.

Don't do the crime, you don't end up inside. Quite simple if you forget all the PC human right rubbish.

But criminals shouldn't be put in prisons. They should be put in nursing homes. There they will get cold meals, lights are off at 7pm. 2 showers a week. Live in a smaller room and pay rent of $4000 a month.

Then we take the elderly and put them in prison... There they will get a shower a day, video surveillance in case of problems, 3 meals a day, access to a library, a gym and a TV. Have an on site doctor and free medication and get regular visits from concerned members of the public. If they injure themselves they can sue the pants off the state and create a financial legacy for the grandchildren.

This has been going on for decades.

I certainly don't mean any offense to the OP, finding out new informations is good ... but so many Americans I speak to seem to be under this impression that American prisons are costing tax payers huge amounts of money and are holiday homes.

American prisons produce all kinds of mindless things from furniture fittings to military equipment. There is a reason why America has the largest prison populations in the world ... its a massive money making exercise which is covered up by propaganda nonsense about prisoners recieving government sponsored health care and being allowed to watch the television.

Companies started strongly getting involved in prisoner labor in 1979 after the practice was originally abolished in 1919. It's called a 'work program' or some such now - not slave labor or punishment.

Keep that number in mind and take a glance:

Source

It's not coincidence that the prison population suddenly sky rocketed when people could make money out of the practice, and that harsh sentences for stupid things started being imposed.

Consumer products such as jeans sold in K-Marts and J.C Penny are made in prisons, but notice that products that are created by prison labor have no requirement to have labels indicating such a consumer. There aren't many reliable ways to make a stand against the process even if you wanted to.

If you do make a stance it will be drowned out by persons saying that the working conditions in prisons are a punishment and they may as well be put to use amongst other short sighted rhetoric. The saddest thing about all this is ... none of this is new. This has been going on for decades but the vast majority of the public turn a blind eye or misunderstand the issue and therefore don't engage with it.

Wake up America! Immigrants and foriegn nations aren't taking your jobs, corporations are taking your jobs and using them to make full price slim fit jeans for you to buy.

reply to post by Pinke


I had a very good laugh when I read my jc penny jeans were made in a prison.

Whenever I read "Made in the USA", it will have a whole new meaning for me now.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


You just now learned that the prisons are for profit? Cool, now look up how the troops grow opium in Afghanistan (Fox News), ship it to America, and lock anyone up that buys in their for profit prisons.

It's called a scam.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Yep. It's scary. Plus they get them in there and make them work. I saw a guy pull over and argue with a jailer because the jailer had people from the county jail mowing lawns. The problem the guy had was that they were mowing private property and he was yelling about how it takes money from several of the local lawn care businesses. His argument was solid.

reply to post by Pinke


Yes.. it needs to be outlawed. It does two things makes the owners rich and corrupts the justice system.

Like those judges that wer locking up kids with crazy sentences for minor offenses because they were bribed by a for profit prison.

Ciavarella was Luzerne County’s juvenile court judge. The children he sentenced were as young as 10 years old and were taken away in handcuffs for what were minor, misdemeanor offenses. Some were imprisoned with no evidence of any crime committed at all: a 13-year-old mocked her vice principal on MySpace; another 13-year-old failed to testify against a classmate; a 14-year-old slapped her friend; and a 15-year-old’s note was used to keep her detained indefinitely.

STORY HERE

Ciaverella was busted (on tax charges not for his worst crimes) and given 28 years. His attorney ironically appealed saying the sentence was excessively long. In the story there is a picture of a mother lashing out at Ciavarella after her son was given an excessive sentence to a for profit prison and thus committed suicide. I say combine all of the excessive time he dished out to kids and let him serve that out.

If you dont want prisons that make profit you instead want us taxpayers paying for the crimes of a few.

reply to post by sirhumperdink


And what is up with Anglo-Americans and ex-members of the British Empire and the concept of Felony disenfranchisement (removing right from vote to convicted citizens), that concept boggles the mind (glad to see that Australia is off these notions)...

Originally posted by lucid eyes
If you dont want prisons that make profit you instead want us taxpayers paying for the crimes of a few.

Then ask yourself why there are so many Americans in prisons. 716 in 100, 000 by last count. I've been to America ... it is not like Mad Max movie. Why is everyone in prison? Why is the American military handing 20 million dollar contracts to federal prisons to produce body armor with $1:15 per hour wages when some persons can't find jobs?

Originally posted by GogoVicMorrow
reply to post by Pinke

 

Yes.. it needs to be outlawed. It does two things makes the owners rich and corrupts the justice system.

Maybe not outlawed, but heavily regulated.

You are 100% right. Until I am corrected, the current system only benefits rich greedy corporations and the government. Work for charity or community projects perhaps in jobs that may provide some relevant skills or training that won't take away money from the American people ... but not this.

Originally posted by Bleeeeep
reply to post by Pinke

 

I had a very good laugh when I read my jc penny jeans were made in a prison.

I have this disturbing vision that 'San Quentin' brand jeans would actually catch on. >.<

'Made by the worst to be worn by the best ... San Quentin' *Big metal logo with a hairy bearded person on it and an explosion*

Originally posted by theMediator
People don't have children to make profit, they invest in their child's future and I see raising society in the same way.

That's just it. With today's mentality and those who have lived their entire lives on public assistance (as did their parents), having a child IS a way to make profit. Their check goes up. They don't take care of the kids they have, but they have more because they get more money from it.

People can say this doesn't happen, but I've seen it with my own eyes and it disgusts me.