4 ms·

Do you have any evidence that this is a legitimate problem? It doesn't really make economic sense IMO. It's a small percentage of people in jail who are non-vio

by jonfw 7y ago

Do you have any evidence that this is a legitimate problem? It doesn't really make economic sense IMO. It's a small percentage of people in jail who are non-violent marijuana drug offenders. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/drug-law-lobbying-by-corrections-corporation-of-america/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/drug-law-lobbying-by-corre... The corrections corporation of America only spends a million a year on lobbying- this would be small change even if it was solely spent on anti-marijuana lobbying. But It's more likely that the majority of their lobbying budget would be spent on issues directly related to regulation and spending for private prisons

alistairSH 7y ago
Not lobbying, but "Kids for Cash" is the worst case I've seen that demonstrates the conflict of interest. Several judges took bribes from private prisons to incarcerate juveniles for minor offenses. While the judges have substantial jail sentences, the developers got off light at <2 years in jail and some fines. For wrongly keeping minors imprisoned, and leading to the suicide of at least one of the wrongfully jailed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal
JshWright 7y ago
While it's a small percentage at any given time, it would be interesting to know what percentage of the prison population were "introduced" to prison by that route. Once someone has been imprisoned once, they are at a much higher risk for subsequent imprisonments.
reallydontask 7y ago
> It's a small percentage of people in jail who are non-violent marijuana drug offenders. I couldn't find anything about this on the link you provided. Any other sources? this [1] doesn't differentiate between violent and non-violent [1] http://www.drugpolicy.org/issues/drug-war-statistics http://www.drugpolicy.org/issues/drug-war-statistics
- jonfw 7y ago
  https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/16/17243080/marijuana-legalization-mass-incarceration-boehner https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/16/17243080/m... https://www.marijuanalawyerblog.com/how-many-federal-prisoners-are-in-prison-due-to-cannabis/ https://www.marijuanalawyerblog.com/how-many-federal-prisone... from the second link: "This is a total of 11,533 people incarcerated as a result of their involvement with cannabis products." Considering that the percentage of prisoners in private prisons is below 10%, we can see that there are less than 1100 people in private prisons for marijuana related crimes. There is no way that you can generate returns on lobbying for one of the most hot issues in US off of the profit of 1100 prisoners

by jonfw 7y ago

alistairSH 7y ago

Not lobbying, but "Kids for Cash" is the worst case I've seen that demonstrates the conflict of interest. Several judges took bribes from private prisons to incarcerate juveniles for minor offenses. While the judges have substantial jail sentences, the developers got off light at <2 years in jail and some fines. For wrongly keeping minors imprisoned, and leading to the suicide of at least one of the wrongfully jailed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal

JshWright 7y ago

While it's a small percentage at any given time, it would be interesting to know what percentage of the prison population were "introduced" to prison by that route. Once someone has been imprisoned once, they are at a much higher risk for subsequent imprisonments.

reallydontask 7y ago

> It's a small percentage of people in jail who are non-violent marijuana drug offenders. I couldn't find anything about this on the link you provided. Any other sources? this [1] doesn't differentiate between violent and non-violent [1] http://www.drugpolicy.org/issues/drug-war-statistics http://www.drugpolicy.org/issues/drug-war-statistics

jonfw 7y ago
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/16/17243080/marijuana-legalization-mass-incarceration-boehner https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/16/17243080/m... https://www.marijuanalawyerblog.com/how-many-federal-prisoners-are-in-prison-due-to-cannabis/ https://www.marijuanalawyerblog.com/how-many-federal-prisone... from the second link: "This is a total of 11,533 people incarcerated as a result of their involvement with cannabis products." Considering that the percentage of prisoners in private prisons is below 10%, we can see that there are less than 1100 people in private prisons for marijuana related crimes. There is no way that you can generate returns on lobbying for one of the most hot issues in US off of the profit of 1100 prisoners