Prison Quotas Push Lawmakers To Fill Beds, Derail Reform

Thats right, if you live in a state with a dot on the map above, You are in a state that has AGREED to keep prisons full.

NOT because of crime statistics, but because of CONTRACTS made with private companies.

Worse yet, IF these prisons are not full, the Prison can SUE the state for violation of contracts.

After three violent inmates escaped from an Arizona private prison in July 2010, prompting a two-week, multi-state manhunt, state corrections officials demanded improvements and stopped sending new inmates to what they called a "dysfunctional" 3,300-bed facility.

Less than a year later, the company that runs the prison, Management & Training Corp., threatened to sue the state. A line in their contract guaranteed that the prison would remain 97 percent full. They argued they had lost nearly $10 million from the reduced inmate population.

We are allowing the greed of a few to ruin society as a whole here in the US.

We have managed to create a system that Incentives corruption, and criminality.

Experts argue that such requirements create an incentive for policymakers to focus on filling empty prison beds, as opposed to pursuing long-term policy changes, such as sentencing reform, that could significantly reduce prison populations. In short, 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 order to satisfy private profit-making companies.

Mandatory minimums, lobbied by the prison industry right now fill our jails with NON-violent offenders, guilty of violation of Prohibition laws.

Something we learned years ago does not work and only creates more crime than it solves.


private prison quotas

Although wasn't it California where they were having to release prisoners not so long ago because they had too many in the system and budget shortfalls made it necessary?

The whole system is absolutely insane.

If nobody in the country ever did anything wrong they'd have to start tossing people in via a lottery or something just so some investors could get rich and some politicians could get kickbacks.

The suits treat it like it's just some joke, an inconvenience, to lock you up for ten years.

This is a disgusting practice that needs to end immediately.
Perhaps it isn't unconstitutional but it certainly flies in the face of what America is supposed to represent.
Mandatory minimum sentencing and the war on drugs are main reasons so many people fill space in prisons instead of being productive members of society.
Addiction is a medical issue and should not be a criminal issue.
Let's stop making laws to create new classes of criminals and maybe get rid of some old laws while we're at it.
Or we could swap out those inside for drug possession offences for those in the banking industry who've committed multi-billion dollar fraud.

ketsuko
Although wasn't it California where they were having to release prisoners not so long ago because they had too many in the system and budget shortfalls made it necessary?

Yep, but take into account that Ca is OVER Filled.

As the contracts are based on the prisons they built, releasing them would never fall below what they could handle capacity wise.

So these laws have worked TOO well in Ca, and is just another example not an exception to what this causes.

And this is why prohibition will not end anytime soon. Anyone who has done sometime in prison in Florida will tell you the Department of Corrections is one of Florida's biggest industries. Not only do they have a contract to keep the prison full, they get tax payer money per prisoner, and then sell the off the prison labor.

Notice how the states with the highest per capita prisoners also have the strictest drug laws. That is no coincidence.

Well, this is what happens when we pass so many laws that everyone is a criminal if they want to press the issue.

But of course, all anyone can do is keep howling "there oughta be a law!"

ketsuko
Well, this is what happens when we pass so many laws that everyone is a criminal if they want to press the issue.

NO.

You are missing the point, THESE COMPANIES ARE a lobbying force behind those laws.

Every time their is a ballot initiative with Mandatory minimums, the Prison industry is either for the effort for them, and if there is one asking to repeal they are against that.

They funnel money into victims advocacy groups to fight it as well.

So if you vote against Mandatory minimums your the guy that wants to put criminals on the street.

This is a complex issue, that demands attention and redress.

Oklahoma is absolutely horrible. They have a saying "Go to Oklahoma on vacation, come back on probation". It's true. I lived there for a year then got the heck out because of how bad it is. I was driving to Walmart at 10:00 pm one night and was pulled over and asked why I was out so late. Seriously. I'm not even joking I was pulled over because only bad people are out after dark *rolls eyes*.

They have passed heavy handed police laws in the state so they can setup roadblocks on a regular basis and they don't need suspicion to pull you over. I couldn't believe it. Anywhere else they need to at least be suspicious or have a reason. Not in Blowlahoma though. I have also had cops pull up behind me in the middle of the night there on the interstate and turn on their brights and ride my butt for 20 miles.

I almost called 911 on one. I guess he turned off when it left his jurisdiction. You also do not have the right to refuse a breathalyzer there. Everyone in that state has been striped of their rights.

Our prison system allows people sentenced for non violent crimes to be locked up with violent predators.

Too poor to pay traffic fines? Go to jail and face being raped. The USA is a messed up place with a pretty wrapper.
Costa Rica does not fine locals more than $10.00 for speeding. If they did the jails would be full of people that could not afford the fines. They save jail for nasty violent people.......

Those that do not commit violent acts have no business being locked up with those that do. It is an absolute travesty.

benrl
Every time their is a ballot initiative with Mandatory minimums, the Prison industry is either for the effort for them, and if there is one asking to repeal they are against that.

Speaking of which there's a new one. Imagine that.

houston.cbslocal.com...

I read awhile back that a lawmaker came out in public furious and went on TV stating that the rest were basically trying to build a fence around the state. He said he would name names. Then he suddenly stopped talking. I can't find the article and it was a few years back.

However 10 years for assault? I think it should be punished with jail time at minimum for violently attacking anyone. However, TEN YEARS? Really?

Anyone who says that we still live in a free country needs to be shown our prison statistics in comparison to the rest of the world. When you live in a country that ranks FIRST in prison incarceration rates per 100,000 people and the nearest other 1st world country is below your country on the list by several hundred per 100,000 people, you aren't a free country anymore.

Entire world - Prison Population Rates per 100,000 of the national population

We are outranking even dictatorships like N. Korea. That has to be saying something if we find more reasons to lock someone up than a country that is known for oppressing their people.

reply to post by benrl


No that is the point.

The prison system relies on mandatory populations. How do you think they get them? They criminalize everything so that they can reliably haul in enough people to fill the cells at will.

This is no more corrupt than when Unions lobby to get certain politicians elected so they can sit across from the same people at contract negotiating time and get plumb labor deals.

I was a part of Amnesty International in high school and I have always recalled one thing they had mentioned to us. The countries with the highest prison populations undergo revolutions. They had showed how just a few years before the U.S.S.R. and South Africa were the only countries who had higher prison pops than the U.S. and we know what happened there.

3 years ago I knew someone who was arrested and put in jail for 6 months over an unpaid driving without a license fine from 1986. This person was put into a county jail which while the article does not mention it these same county jails receive money from the Government based on the number of inmates they have. It is sickening all around.

reply to post by benrl


Private prisons - what could go wrong?

Private Prisons Sue States that Don't Keep Them Full

The prison-industrial complex is so out of control that private prisons have the sheer audacity to order states to keep beds full or face their wrath with stiff financial penalties, according to reports. Private prisons in some states have language in their contracts that state if they fall below a certain percentage of capacity that the states must pay the private prisons millions of dollars, lest they face a lawsuit for millions more.

Our world was never full of peace or liberty, but even so, it's crumbling all around us right now.

reply to post by Pimpintology


This is one I agree with. This knockout game is violent assault at the least and attempted murder at worst. In fact it has resulted in murder. These scum deserve 10 years minimum.

reply to post by pirhanna


It's not a bad idea until they made mandatory populations part of the contract. The flip side is to have a prison run by the state and staffed by a public employee union which is just as corrupt and abusive to the system in its own way.

You are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Bassago
reply to post by Pimpintology

 

This is one I agree with. This knockout game is violent assault at the least and attempted murder at worst. In fact it has resulted in murder. These scum deserve 10 years minimum.

I have to disagree. If this knockout game is gang related there are numerous laws to cover that. Why increase the sentence for something like assault which can cover many instances?

Granted there is all kinds of justification used in creating these oppressive penalties and many times they are deserved but look at things like domestic violence. You can be charged for domestic violence for raising your voice or sending a text message and even when it is not explicitly a felony they can still take a way a persons right to bear arms.

reply to post by Pimpintology


Florida has the same saying. Although, a little different than yours. Come to Florida on vacation. Leave on probation. Come back on violation.