5 ms·

Or a pretty serious opportunity, if you get to build/run prisons for a living. Given how corrupt US politics is, I'm sure the two are connected.

Alex3917 16y ago
"Given how corrupt US politics is, I'm sure the two are connected." Prisons get to extend the sentences of inmates if they test positive for drugs while in prison. Guess whether it's public or private prisons where inmates are on average 8 times more likely to test positive for drug use. http://www.bop.gov/news/research_projects/published_reports/pub_vs_priv/oreprres_note.pdf http://www.bop.gov/news/research_projects/published_reports/...
- rhizome 16y ago
  There's perverse incentive for them to allow drugs into their prisons if they benefit when inmates fail drug tests.
rb2k_ 16y ago
The interesting thing is that for a lot of crimes, prison is ment as a time for rehabilitation. If the people that run the prison only make money if you come back again (or stay there), the situation changes slightly...
JonnieCache 16y ago
And a massive cash cow if you're selling the products of the cheap labour that goes on in US prisons. http://www.cio.com/article/595304/Prison_Labor_Outsourcing_s_Best_Kept_Secret_ http://www.cio.com/article/595304/Prison_Labor_Outsourcing_s... http://newworkerfeatures.blogspot.com/2010/02/us-prison-labour-return-to-slavery.html http://newworkerfeatures.blogspot.com/2010/02/us-prison-labo... Paying someone who you have in complete physical bondage under $1 an hour is slave labour as far as I'm concerned, even if it is nominally voluntary. At best its unconscionably exploitative. Add to that the fact that the US govt. is legally bound to prefer prison labour over any other for the production of body armour, weapons etc. for the security agencies. EDIT: Here's another fun stat: america has more black people in prison than in college: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2223709.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2223709.stm Although we in the UK are definitely doing pretty well at emulating uncle sam: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/uk_prisons_in_the_uk/html/1.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/uk_prisons_...
- ugh 16y ago
  It is slave labor. The US constitution bans slavery except for prisoners. Here is the text of the Thirteenth Amendment, Section 1: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” – edit: To add a bit more substance, here is an article about the recent Georgia prison strike and the Thirteenth Amendment: http://prisonlaw.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/prison-labor-and-the-thirteenth-amendment/ http://prisonlaw.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/prison-labor-and-t...
  - vaksel 16y ago
    to me that means that labor has to be ordered by the judge as part of the punishment
    - ugh 16y ago
      That’s what I thought when I first read the text but apparently not. Quote from the article I linked: “In light of its plain text, the Thirteenth Amendment has generally been interpreted to bar legal challenges to unpaid or minimally paid prison labor.”
    - chc 16y ago
      I'm not so sure. If it's ordinary for prisoners to work for minimal compensation, and the judge orders you to go to prison, he has implicitly included the possibility of labor in that sentence. There are a lot of other aspects of prison that would not fly when you're dealing with a free person but which are generally considered to be implicit when you're sent to jail.
  - thomasfl 16y ago
    If this continue, soon the US will become worse than the Soviet Gulag. Only 14 million people passed through the Gulag from 1929 to 1953, with a further 6 to 7 million being deported and exiled to remote areas of the USSR. In the US 7,225,800 people at yearend 2009 were on probation, in jail or prison, or on parole — about 3.1% of adults in the U.S. cresident population, or 1 in every 32 adults. (Source wikipedia.) I also recommend reading Norwegian criminologist Nils Christie, on why the US should empty their prisons: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-10/ff_smartlist_christie http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-10/ff_smartl...
marklabedz 16y ago
Unfortunately, its not just those building and running the prisons. In 2009, a pair of judges outside of Philly pleaded guilty to accepting $2.6M in kickbacks from private detention centers: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/14/us/14judge.html http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/14/us/14judge.html
- JasonPunyon 16y ago
  BONUS: These were children.

Alex3917 16y ago

"Given how corrupt US politics is, I'm sure the two are connected." Prisons get to extend the sentences of inmates if they test positive for drugs while in prison. Guess whether it's public or private prisons where inmates are on average 8 times more likely to test positive for drug use. http://www.bop.gov/news/research_projects/published_reports/pub_vs_priv/oreprres_note.pdf http://www.bop.gov/news/research_projects/published_reports/...

rhizome 16y ago
There's perverse incentive for them to allow drugs into their prisons if they benefit when inmates fail drug tests.

rb2k_ 16y ago

The interesting thing is that for a lot of crimes, prison is ment as a time for rehabilitation. If the people that run the prison only make money if you come back again (or stay there), the situation changes slightly...

JonnieCache 16y ago

And a massive cash cow if you're selling the products of the cheap labour that goes on in US prisons. http://www.cio.com/article/595304/Prison_Labor_Outsourcing_s_Best_Kept_Secret_ http://www.cio.com/article/595304/Prison_Labor_Outsourcing_s... http://newworkerfeatures.blogspot.com/2010/02/us-prison-labour-return-to-slavery.html http://newworkerfeatures.blogspot.com/2010/02/us-prison-labo... Paying someone who you have in complete physical bondage under $1 an hour is slave labour as far as I'm concerned, even if it is nominally voluntary. At best its unconscionably exploitative. Add to that the fact that the US govt. is legally bound to prefer prison labour over any other for the production of body armour, weapons etc. for the security agencies. EDIT: Here's another fun stat: america has more black people in prison than in college: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2223709.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2223709.stm Although we in the UK are definitely doing pretty well at emulating uncle sam: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/uk_prisons_in_the_uk/html/1.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/uk_prisons_...

ugh 16y ago
It is slave labor. The US constitution bans slavery except for prisoners. Here is the text of the Thirteenth Amendment, Section 1: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” – edit: To add a bit more substance, here is an article about the recent Georgia prison strike and the Thirteenth Amendment: http://prisonlaw.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/prison-labor-and-the-thirteenth-amendment/ http://prisonlaw.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/prison-labor-and-t...
- vaksel 16y ago
  to me that means that labor has to be ordered by the judge as part of the punishment
  - ugh 16y ago
    That’s what I thought when I first read the text but apparently not. Quote from the article I linked: “In light of its plain text, the Thirteenth Amendment has generally been interpreted to bar legal challenges to unpaid or minimally paid prison labor.”
  - chc 16y ago
    I'm not so sure. If it's ordinary for prisoners to work for minimal compensation, and the judge orders you to go to prison, he has implicitly included the possibility of labor in that sentence. There are a lot of other aspects of prison that would not fly when you're dealing with a free person but which are generally considered to be implicit when you're sent to jail.
- thomasfl 16y ago
  If this continue, soon the US will become worse than the Soviet Gulag. Only 14 million people passed through the Gulag from 1929 to 1953, with a further 6 to 7 million being deported and exiled to remote areas of the USSR. In the US 7,225,800 people at yearend 2009 were on probation, in jail or prison, or on parole — about 3.1% of adults in the U.S. cresident population, or 1 in every 32 adults. (Source wikipedia.) I also recommend reading Norwegian criminologist Nils Christie, on why the US should empty their prisons: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-10/ff_smartlist_christie http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-10/ff_smartl...

marklabedz 16y ago

Unfortunately, its not just those building and running the prisons. In 2009, a pair of judges outside of Philly pleaded guilty to accepting $2.6M in kickbacks from private detention centers: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/14/us/14judge.html http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/14/us/14judge.html

JasonPunyon 16y ago
BONUS: These were children.