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>But in my opinion the biggest single factor is that the DA in question is an investor in the private jail to which he sends people. This is happening more tha

>But in my opinion the biggest single factor is that the DA in question is an investor in the private jail to which he sends people. This is happening more than it should. Lots of hands are reaching into the private prisons industry's resources (cheap labor). Some towns are investing HEAVILY in private prisons. The prisoners that are "good" get to work making products that can easily undercut any competitor. When a whole county is dependent on a private prison, well, the whole system in the county has a vested interest in throwing as many people in jail as possible. Corruption all the way up AND down.

btilly 13y ago
Absolutely. The USA is #1 in the world for portion of our population in jail, and I'm generally not in favor of increasing that. But yet I would personally heartily support a law to criminalize this type of conflict of interest with severe jail time. And while we're at it, apply it to politicians as well. As an example, Arizona's immigration policies were written by lobbyists for the private prison system, and said lobbyists that they hired have pushed for similar bills in every state that they can get to listen. Another travesty is that the people impacted by this become felons and in many places lose their right to vote. (In many states - Florida being a star example - this is because Republican politicians did the math and see it as an easy way to get rid of Democratic voters. Voter suppression is supposedly illegal, but it has been happening forever and nobody seems to care as long as it happens to dislikable people.) Thus the people who are most painfully aware of the extent of the abuse are removed from the democratic process - and those close to the victims wind up with an entirely rational fear that if they speak up too loudly about it, they will get targeted as well. And as Aaron Swartz famously discovered, even if you have reasonable financial resources, you probably don't have enough to even try to defend yourself against this machine. Just think of how much worse that is for people who start out poor!
Patrikvo 13y ago
Wow, the US is taking inspiration from North-Korea.
amirmc 13y ago
Corruption and a new slave trade (of sorts). Wow.
cafard 13y ago
A couple of guys in Scranton have gone to a non-private prison for running in teenagers on bogus or exaggerated charges and taking kickbacks from the private prison company.

btilly 13y ago

Absolutely. The USA is #1 in the world for portion of our population in jail, and I'm generally not in favor of increasing that. But yet I would personally heartily support a law to criminalize this type of conflict of interest with severe jail time. And while we're at it, apply it to politicians as well. As an example, Arizona's immigration policies were written by lobbyists for the private prison system, and said lobbyists that they hired have pushed for similar bills in every state that they can get to listen. Another travesty is that the people impacted by this become felons and in many places lose their right to vote. (In many states - Florida being a star example - this is because Republican politicians did the math and see it as an easy way to get rid of Democratic voters. Voter suppression is supposedly illegal, but it has been happening forever and nobody seems to care as long as it happens to dislikable people.) Thus the people who are most painfully aware of the extent of the abuse are removed from the democratic process - and those close to the victims wind up with an entirely rational fear that if they speak up too loudly about it, they will get targeted as well. And as Aaron Swartz famously discovered, even if you have reasonable financial resources, you probably don't have enough to even try to defend yourself against this machine. Just think of how much worse that is for people who start out poor!

Patrikvo 13y ago

Wow, the US is taking inspiration from North-Korea.

amirmc 13y ago

Corruption and a new slave trade (of sorts). Wow.

cafard 13y ago

A couple of guys in Scranton have gone to a non-private prison for running in teenagers on bogus or exaggerated charges and taking kickbacks from the private prison company.