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Just because it is a public prison doesn't mean there aren't people making money to lock people up. There is prison labor, there is money handling (it costs mo

Just because it is a public prison doesn't mean there aren't people making money to lock people up. There is prison labor, there is money handling (it costs money to send money to prisoners), there is the commissary, there are phone calls that cost $5 for 15 minutes. At every step of the way, the system beats down and exploits the most vulnerable in society. And they do profit. There are people doing time for petty theft simply because they can't pay the fees to get out of jail. [1] [1] http://www.npr.org/2016/05/05/476844416/colorado-springs-agrees-to-stop-jailing-people-too-poor-to-pay-court-fines http://www.npr.org/2016/05/05/476844416/colorado-springs-agr...

downandout 10y ago
Let's not forget prison guard unions, which unsurprisingly spend vast sums of money on lobbyists to push "tough on crime" agendas (which, not so coincidentally, have a direct impact on their members' employment prospects).
- ufmace 10y ago
  That's what makes me really cynical about all this. Injustice in the legal system for the lower-classes is a hobby-horse of the Left these days. So naturally, they rail endlessly about private prisons, which are a tiny part of the overall legal system - 16% of prisoners overall, lack of money for public defenders, etc. Yet look at who some of the Democrat party backers are: unions, especially prison guard and police, and lawyers. So naturally, they ignore the parts of the problem caused by their base, and just happen to recommend solutions that will be good for other parts of their base. Makes you wonder how much they really care. I suppose if you asked a honest Democrat bigwig, they'd say something like they're just focusing on the problems that are practical to fix right now, and they can't fix everything at once because they need the support of these other groups to be able to accomplish anything at all.
  - philwelch 10y ago
    Prison guards are under the umbrella of law enforcement, and no one crosses the law enforcement unions. Even Scott Walker, who made his name busting public sector unions, didn't go after police unions.
bilbo0s 10y ago
Back in college I used to do odd programming jobs for local companies to make ends meet. (It was basically contracting, but I was too young to know that at the time.) Anyway, one of the jobs I did back then was to move a Paradox db to Access. (Yes, this was a LOOOOONNNNGGGGG time ago.) It was for a company that provided goods to jails around the state for the commissaries, as well as providing food for the inmates meals. I recall doing double takes at the prices that they were charging for some of the things they were "selling". A simple small bag of Cheetos would be marked up 5 or 6 hundred percent. Sanitary goods might be marked up a thousand percent. The list went on and on. It was crazy. And it was, most likely, VERY good money for that firm. I don't know if they have gotten rid of those firms, but that is one place where A LOT of money was being made at the time. The more prisoners there were, the more money that company would make. Because the prisoners would buy these goods from the commissaries at ENORMOUS markups. Not only that, but I always thought there was a HUGE potential externality built into that business. I mean, this is just speculation, but let's suppose companies like this supply prisons as well as jails. Well you could have a prisoner that is allowed to buy Cheetos and Snickers bars and sit around and get obese for his 30 year term. Only at year 20 he comes down with diabetes, or heart disease. (Not surprising.) And the tax payer is actually stuck with the bill for the medical care for the last 10 years, even though those companies made all the money off of selling the prisoner the Cheetos that contributed to the heart disease. That job really was eye-opening for me.
- jrochkind1 10y ago
  I bet the jails were getting kickbacks, legally or illegally.
  - ta_donk_gt 10y ago
    It's possible, but either way the same abuse would be occurring. It happens for the same reason Tylenol is charged at like $60/pill during a hospital stay, and while we're at it the same reason the criminal justice system is so out of control: These people don't answer to anyone. Nobody is going to stop them. Talk and dream all you want about voting corruption away, it is not going to change. The system is too entrenched, and there are too many powerful people that have too much to lose to ever let it happen.
SeeDave 10y ago
You're on to something. The FCCs attempt to regulate prison phone call prices in the fall of 2015 has been put on hold via appeal by private corporations. Really, really sad. http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2016/03/07/appeals-court-puts-on-hold-fcc-caps-on-prison-phone-call-charges/ http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2016/03/07/appeals-court-puts-on-ho...

downandout 10y ago

Let's not forget prison guard unions, which unsurprisingly spend vast sums of money on lobbyists to push "tough on crime" agendas (which, not so coincidentally, have a direct impact on their members' employment prospects).

ufmace 10y ago
That's what makes me really cynical about all this. Injustice in the legal system for the lower-classes is a hobby-horse of the Left these days. So naturally, they rail endlessly about private prisons, which are a tiny part of the overall legal system - 16% of prisoners overall, lack of money for public defenders, etc. Yet look at who some of the Democrat party backers are: unions, especially prison guard and police, and lawyers. So naturally, they ignore the parts of the problem caused by their base, and just happen to recommend solutions that will be good for other parts of their base. Makes you wonder how much they really care. I suppose if you asked a honest Democrat bigwig, they'd say something like they're just focusing on the problems that are practical to fix right now, and they can't fix everything at once because they need the support of these other groups to be able to accomplish anything at all.
- philwelch 10y ago
  Prison guards are under the umbrella of law enforcement, and no one crosses the law enforcement unions. Even Scott Walker, who made his name busting public sector unions, didn't go after police unions.

bilbo0s 10y ago

Back in college I used to do odd programming jobs for local companies to make ends meet. (It was basically contracting, but I was too young to know that at the time.) Anyway, one of the jobs I did back then was to move a Paradox db to Access. (Yes, this was a LOOOOONNNNGGGGG time ago.) It was for a company that provided goods to jails around the state for the commissaries, as well as providing food for the inmates meals. I recall doing double takes at the prices that they were charging for some of the things they were "selling". A simple small bag of Cheetos would be marked up 5 or 6 hundred percent. Sanitary goods might be marked up a thousand percent. The list went on and on. It was crazy. And it was, most likely, VERY good money for that firm. I don't know if they have gotten rid of those firms, but that is one place where A LOT of money was being made at the time. The more prisoners there were, the more money that company would make. Because the prisoners would buy these goods from the commissaries at ENORMOUS markups. Not only that, but I always thought there was a HUGE potential externality built into that business. I mean, this is just speculation, but let's suppose companies like this supply prisons as well as jails. Well you could have a prisoner that is allowed to buy Cheetos and Snickers bars and sit around and get obese for his 30 year term. Only at year 20 he comes down with diabetes, or heart disease. (Not surprising.) And the tax payer is actually stuck with the bill for the medical care for the last 10 years, even though those companies made all the money off of selling the prisoner the Cheetos that contributed to the heart disease. That job really was eye-opening for me.

jrochkind1 10y ago
I bet the jails were getting kickbacks, legally or illegally.
- ta_donk_gt 10y ago
  It's possible, but either way the same abuse would be occurring. It happens for the same reason Tylenol is charged at like $60/pill during a hospital stay, and while we're at it the same reason the criminal justice system is so out of control: These people don't answer to anyone. Nobody is going to stop them. Talk and dream all you want about voting corruption away, it is not going to change. The system is too entrenched, and there are too many powerful people that have too much to lose to ever let it happen.

SeeDave 10y ago

You're on to something. The FCCs attempt to regulate prison phone call prices in the fall of 2015 has been put on hold via appeal by private corporations. Really, really sad. http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2016/03/07/appeals-court-puts-on-hold-fcc-caps-on-prison-phone-call-charges/ http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2016/03/07/appeals-court-puts-on-ho...