The part you are missing is these private phone operators made deals with private prison operators, no government involved. The government is still to blame fo

The part you are missing is these private phone operators made deals with private prison operators, no government involved. The government is still to blame for having private prisons. For everything you point out, a prison should not be private because it's a market with a literal set of captives that cannot choose their prison. That incentives the prison to gouge at every turn.