>Let me get this straight - you think current prison system doesn't incentivize leaving prison enough? Yes, it doesn't. Many have nothing to look forward to ou

>Let me get this straight - you think current prison system doesn't incentivize leaving prison enough? Yes, it doesn't. Many have nothing to look forward to outside of prison. I hate to use a movie as an example, but take a look at Shawshank Redemption. They should leave having gained something, maybe prisons can help inmates find employment for the skills they gained as they reach the end of their sentence. >Because it creates a whole lot of perverse incentives that simply shouldn't exist around the prison system. I view nothing as immune to corruption. It's just a matter of better alternatives. Ideally inmates are allocated more to prisons with high rates of success after serving their sentence, which gives prisons an incentive to get their inmates out and with marketable skills. >taking cash bribes to send people to for-profit prisons This is not exclusive to for-profit prisons. Prisons that have higher number of inmates can make an argument for a higher allocation of tax dollars. >Just like schools shouldn't be making profit, just like hospitals shouldn't be making profits - they are utilities for the society, not profit centres You've said this more than once, but I still don't see why they shouldn't be. All I hear is "they just shouldn't make money". Why? They're just going to play games to get more tax dollars if they're forced not to make any money themselves. Bad schools are allocated more funds, take the LA Unified School District for example -- some of the worse performing schools in the nation, yet some of the best funded public schools! If I'm pessimistic enough, I would even imagine the teachers and administration are not doing their job on purpose.